tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59293528165618092632024-03-19T06:24:38.249-04:00Little Worlds <b>A Decade or More of Movie Writing</b>Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.comBlogger327125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-18066775663146450752023-01-13T13:37:00.006-05:002023-01-13T13:37:46.080-05:00My Year at the Movies 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXp7m_v4BSNwnrm50D3keCtaGP1GY7uqlY3UUGL75BsQg3ZaPsb4y67cCexvFOC3IAwE9mnBFqtS5EmDacvfchRwBG1agzT6YKejshM8Y7GkfzgoUaZoXglZ5vB3bk1awHldrTAEA5cDgY1l7Hwr9NMOQM1NnulTTO4SPTDXNEt-ky71bPDImhpkqDIg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="164" data-original-width="307" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXp7m_v4BSNwnrm50D3keCtaGP1GY7uqlY3UUGL75BsQg3ZaPsb4y67cCexvFOC3IAwE9mnBFqtS5EmDacvfchRwBG1agzT6YKejshM8Y7GkfzgoUaZoXglZ5vB3bk1awHldrTAEA5cDgY1l7Hwr9NMOQM1NnulTTO4SPTDXNEt-ky71bPDImhpkqDIg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKMB_6Niv-5b7zDOf7HMdPS5CYACFyNaF_D-8Ch2Wtve-NMTgEvXx5x3Zf03V6tKlD2mEVfJpNPgHBbT7Xjzhgd7i3CBKHDB5r6LPmMETq-oKZawPBJxoLl2EtuOVscphk7fEHjBNOth73a7YV4arAH36SYIedIkWDPmeYfH0MEjVcphVrB6uzCA_0sw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKMB_6Niv-5b7zDOf7HMdPS5CYACFyNaF_D-8Ch2Wtve-NMTgEvXx5x3Zf03V6tKlD2mEVfJpNPgHBbT7Xjzhgd7i3CBKHDB5r6LPmMETq-oKZawPBJxoLl2EtuOVscphk7fEHjBNOth73a7YV4arAH36SYIedIkWDPmeYfH0MEjVcphVrB6uzCA_0sw" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><br />
Here you have my review of the 2022 movies I saw this year, mostly the ones I saw in theaters with some notable films I saw on streaming – followed by my nominees and winners for Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Picture, as well as a list of best picture honorable mentions and a list of performance honorable mentions from which I drew Best Supporting Actor and Actress winners. The images above are not meant to hint at a particular nominee or winner. <div><br /></div><div>As usual, the B sci-fi and horror films come out during the movie doldrums of January and February. In Roland Emmerich’s latest disaster extravaganza <i>Moonfall</i>, another sci-fi epic that pays little attention to physical and scientific reality, our moon jumps out of orbit and heads toward Earth. Not nearly as good as <i>2012</i>, my favorite Emmerich film. Rather unimpressive CGI though I loved it when the moon approaches so close that they can launch themselves out of the moon’s gravity right into Earth’s gravity without worrying about the space between! Also, in February – I saw the enjoyable romance-fantasy <i>Marry Me</i> in which a mild-mannered teacher played by Owen Wilson marries J. Lo. Yeah, right – but Wilson and Lopez are charming together. I followed this with <i>Uncharted</i>, an improbable, forgettable action movie based on a video game – a kind of cross between <i>Mission: Impossible</i> and <i>Pirates of the Caribbean</i>. I wrapped up February with <i>Dog</i>, the best of the lot this month. Not your overly sentimental dog movie, it’s about two individuals damaged by war – one a man (Channing Tatum) and the other a dog (played by three different dogs). </div><div><br /></div><div> Along comes March and the semi-big movie is <i>The Batman</i>. Pattinson is fine as Batman. I’m not a Batman freak, but I enjoyed the movie. Took a while to get going. Nice brooding atmosphere. Don’t remember too much else about it. On Disney+ it was <i>Turning Red</i>, another Disney offering that focuses on another culture and gives the major roles to people of color. It’s an odd movie, and the “tiger” mom and grandma are scary characters! Back at the movies, I saw <i>X</i>. Gory, diverting, awesome man-eating alligator, with Mia Goth playing an aspiring actress performing in a porn film on a farm owned by a psycho old couple. </div><div><br /></div><div>In April I saw <i>The Lost City</i> - can’t say I liked it despite Brad Pitt’s part in this ridiculous rom-com. Also saw <i>Infinite Storm</i> with an admirable Naomi Watts performance and grueling episodes as a blizzard traps a jogger and Watts saves him, set in a mountain range that bears no resemblance to the White Mountains of New Hampshire where the true story took place. Finally, I saw <i>Everything Everywhere All at Once</i> which I enjoyed for its portrayal of a Chinese mother trying to accept the American acculturation of her millennial, lesbian daughter. All the alternate universe stuff kind of lost me. Jamie Lee Curtis gives a tremendous performance as an IRS clerk gone psycho. </div><div><br /></div><div>In May, when the movies usually get bigger, I saw <i>Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore</i>, a suitable sequel with some suspenseful sequences, revelations about the Dumbledore family, and a fine performance by Jessica Williams - yes, BIPOC may go to Hogwarts too! Then there was <i>Top Gun: Maverick</i>, which has been very favorably reviewed and has appeared on a number of critics’ top-ten lists. I enjoyed it, but I thought that the plot was following a mold – young guy seeks to win the approval of older officer while struggling with bitterness toward him. Cruise gives a solid performance – but he always does so in the many action movies in which he as starred. The action is thrilling but standard and predictable. </div><div> </div><div>In June came a very different movie: <i>The Northman</i>, directed by Robert Eggers, the director who brought realism and period-appropriate language to stories about witches in colonial America and lighthouse keepers enduring the isolation and claustrophobia of a 1.33 aspect ratio. Here he deals with the often caricatured, inaccurately portrayed Vikings. The actors are given rich, poetic language that suggests the Germanic language spoken by Northmen of that time period, and they are appropriately violent – very violent – and engage in realistic looking rituals and bloody sacrifices. I like Eggers’s <i>The Witch</i> the best. Meanwhile, I had been anticipating the completion of the <i>Jurassic World</i> trilogy for months. In fact, I conducted a “Monster Mayhem Movie Marathon,” posting on Letterboxd on the monster movies I re-watched. When <i>Jurassic Park: World Dominion</i> finally came out, I was disappointed. Much attention is paid to the sale of pirated dinosaur clones on the black market – and to a rather tedious motorcycle chase. When the dinosaur encounters finally reach the jungle where they belong, the man-vs-dino and the dino-vs-dino action is a lot less memorable and spectacular than that of the first two movies, spending too much time reuniting the characters from <i>Jurassic Park</i> and giving them time for individual reaction shots as well as group looks of awe and terror with everyone deliberately spaced evenly apart so that everyone gets seen by the camera. Do people really stand that way in a group? June’s theater viewings ended with Disney/Pixar’s <i>Lightyear</i> the origin story for Buzz Lightyear, an exciting and sophisticated sci-fi story involving the theory of relativity – less of a kids’ film than it should have been perhaps. </div><div><br /></div><div>In a slow summer, July featured movies that are only mildly good. <i>Minions: The Rise of Gru</i> is sometimes funny but not nearly as satisfying or epic as <i>Minions</i>. The funniest sequence involves the yellow devils running the flight to San Francisco – but that was spoiled by the trailer I had seen multiple times. <i> Where the Crawdads Sing</i> is based on your typical romantic book-club-book contrivance, but it has picturesque settings and the presence of the delightful Daisy Edgar-Jones – but do crawdads really sing? On streaming I saw <i>Ambulance</i>, a thrilling but overdone action/violence movie with Jake Gyllenhaal commandeering an ambulance to escape from a botched bank job while his brother and a kidnapped nurse operate on a wounded policeman as they flee high-speed from the entire LAPD. </div><div><br /></div><div>In August, I enjoyed a number of good movies on the small screen, and one of the best movies of the year on the big screen. On Netflix, Dakota Johnson appears in yet another Jane Austen rendition - <i>Persuasion</i>, modernized in point of view, though not in time period. Here Johnson as Anne Elliot delivers her sardonic evaluation of human foibles and the silliness of interactions between male and female, addressing her comments at the camera with a fetching wink of her eye. In Ron Howard’s epic rescue drama set in Thailand, <i>Thirteen Lives</i> (Amazon), the two most famous rescue divers, played by Colin Farrell and Viggo Mortensen, devise a risky, radical plan to rescue a soccer team and their coach trapped in a flooded cavern. Very gripping from beginning to end. One of Howard’s best films. Meanwhile, <i>Nope</i> is Jordan Peele’s best film of the three he has made. With Daniel Kaluuya as a movie-horse wrangler and Keke Palmer as his sassy sister, it is a scary, suspenseful, quirky take on the flying-saucer-from-outer-space genre. The invader is an entity that looks like a classic flying saucer but is something else entirely. It also incorporates Western tropes, with the setting and with horse wrangler OJ (Kaluuya) riding hell-bent-for-leather like a cowboy hero. Finally, that month, on Hulu (which I rarely view), I discovered the best adventure/period piece of the year that takes you back three hundred years to a group of Comanche Indians living on the Great Plains. In <i>Prey</i>, however, the hero is Naru (Amber Midthunder) a young Comanche woman who wants to hunt with the boys instead of gathering food and weaving baskets with the girls, and she proves herself worthy when she sets out to kill a beast – SPOILER! that turns out to be that predatory warrior/hunter from outer space we have followed in a number of previous films. This satisfied my love for raw, outdoor, physical action. </div><div><br /></div><div>Releases usually peter out toward the end of August. Then, in the middle of September, you start to get a renewal of good releases. <i>The Woman King</i>. Wow! You get Viola Davis, half naked, in battle garb, wielding a sword, slashing away at her enemies. She is the warrior leader of Dahomey in the early 1800s – fierce and formidable – fighting rival tribes working for the pernicious slavers. Has she ever done any physical action? She is the best part of a film that follows the very stock pattern of a young warrior-wannabe (Thuso Mbedu) going through training, making friends among the men, I mean, women, tussling with rivals, and proving herself in battle. <i>Don’t Worry Darling</i> got poor reviews, but I liked it. It’s a chilling Stepford Wives-like thriller in which a housewife (Florence Pugh), new to the community, notices strange things about her husband (Harry Styles) and the other men living in perfect little houses with perfect little robotic wives. You know this is not reality! On streaming, I watched the ultra-violent, vibrantly filmed and edited drama - <i>Athena</i> - about Arab refugees in a French housing project rioting in reaction to the killing of a boy, supposedly by the police. The film’s opening sequence is one of the longest uninterrupted cuts I have seen that runs from a police station, through the station, outside, into vehicles, follows the vehicles full of protestors, runs through a housing development, and ends on a wall looking down at the approaching police. Amazing action choreography, editing, and cinematography. Finally came the Netflix release of <i>Blonde</i>, a fictional interpretation of the life of Marilyn Monroe. I had read the novel by Joyce Carol Oates, and I was ready! It has been strongly criticized for its fictional free-license (but it is clearly intended as fiction – as the presentation of a sort of alternate universe Monroe!) and its graphic sexuality (but Monroe was a very sexual person and sexuality was key to her rise to fame and a pervading force throughout her life). It is a shocking, raw, disturbing film about a person disturbed by haunting insecurities, a person who suffered mental anguish throughout her life yet was able to perform some of Hollywood’s most memorable roles. Ana de Armas becomes the embodiment of Monroe in a totally transformative performance. The film is visually remarkable for its use of different aspect ratios, color, and black and white to evoke the classic decades of Hollywood movies, and the year’s most memorable image is the dissolve from Marilyn’s long hair cascading over the side of her bed into Niagara Falls. </div><div><br /></div><div>In October came <i>Fall</i>, one of the best action movie/thrillers of the year, in a genre I call millennials in peril, in which millennials get into life-threatening situations and their cell phones are integral to the action. This thriller puts you at the top of a two-thousand-foot radio tower in the middle of the desert and traps you there with two thrill-seeking millennial women. The dizzying camerawork makes you cringe, as the two young women try to think their way down from their perilous perch – and their cells don’t get a signal up there! Nice commentary about those daring-deeds reels posted on Facebook and YouTube. In another example of millennials in peril, <i>Barbarian</i>, a young woman finds herself in the Airbnb from hell when she ends up bunking with a young man accidentally assigned the same rental. You expect he will be some sort of psycho – until they find tunnels leading down from the cellar into a nether region where they encounter a monstrosity far beyond what you might have been expecting. One of the best horror movies of the year! I had been yearning for a historical epic, something with battles, and out came the German film <i>All Quiet on the Western Front</i> a grim but beautiful adaptation of the novel. At first, I was disappointed because it strayed so freely from the novel, but once the action started, I was impressed with the set-piece battle, when rumbling tanks advance upon Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) and his German comrades in a remarkably intense and violent sequence. In contrast, the film goes pastoral as Paul and his buddies form close friendships in the natural beauty of the French countryside. Another historical film, <i>Till</i>, is a hauntingly unforgettable depiction of the inhuman racism of the Jim Crow South, in which a young Black teenager is brutally beaten and killed for flirting with a white woman, and his mother (Danielle Deadwyler) employs her intense anguish and deep love for her abused son to jump-start the kinds of protests that became the Civil Rights Movement. Deadwyler’s speech, in which she explains how she identified her son’s body despite the horrible mutilation and bloating, is one of the best monologues in a year trending lengthy monologues done as single cuts. </div><div><br /></div><div>November’s big movie was the new chapter in the <i>Black Panther: Wakanda Forever</i>. It is a sweeping epic with a cast of people of color, and the best part of it is how it pays very emotional tributes to Chadwick Boseman: first by incorporating his sketched image exclusively in the ubiquitous Marvel comics montage at the opening of the film. Then there is the grand funeral procession for the deceased King T’Challa, and the montage of T’Challa memories when SPOILER! the beautiful Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) reveals that T’Challa is the father of her son. It’s a visually grand film, but I found the plot derivative, ultimately unsatisfying, and devoid of the kind of distinctive action sequences that have enhanced previous Marvel installments. In the well-meaning but lackluster <i>She Said</i> about the New York Times article that launched the #MeToo movement, well, you know what happens. </div><div><br /></div><div>At the end of the month, there was nothing to go out and see. I thought November was the prelude to the Oscar-hopeful releases of the holidays – but all we got was Wakanda. It came Thursday, my movie outing night, and I decided to see <i>Bones and All</i>. All I knew was that it was about a road trip and it had gotten good press, and I like going to a movie I know little about, so I decided to see it. The movie began. Oh, a high school movie. Boy, I was in for a big surprise! Then SPOILERS! Maren (Taylor Russell) goes to a sleepover, takes her friend’s finger, starts to suck it, and bites it out! Turns out Maren, like a minority of others, is an eater of human flesh. Yeah, then we get the road trip when Maren, joined by another eater, Lee, (Timothée Chalamet), searches for her mother to learn more about her eater heritage. This is the year’s best weird film. </div><div><br /></div><div>In December, my daughter and I watched an excellent foreign film on Netflix: <i>The Swimmers</i> about two Olympics-hopeful swimmers who escape the violence in Syria and embark on the dangerous and degrading refugee trail from Turkey to a Greek island on a sinking boat and at the mercy of sleazy transfer agents through an unwelcoming Europe to Germany where a coach trains one of the girls for an Olympics team made up of refugees from different countries. The depiction of what the refugees suffer is visceral and heart-rending! Also, on Netflix, I watched <i>Emily the Criminal</i>, a taut thriller with sharp social commentary, about a young millennial who engages in credit card fraud to pay off her exorbitant student loan. <i>Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio</i>, the year’s best animated film (Disney/Pixar seemed to be taking a break this year), is a very different telling of the story made classic by Disney. With tremendous set design and stop-motion animation, del Toro presents a grimmer version of the story. Here Pinocchio is sometimes an unlikable pain in the ass, and Geppetto regrets making him. This retelling takes place in Italy, mostly during the Mussolini regime. Here the tubby dictator is a dwarf-sized bully mocked by Pinocchio’s shit-filled song – very unDisney. In contrast, <i>Avatar: The Way of Water</i> is totally in keeping with a Disney-friendly film. It’s about a family – Jake (Sam Worthington) Sully’s Na’vi family, with his wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldana), and four children – one of them a Na’vi-looking clone of Sigourney Weaver (I was fine with leaving her behind in the first film). In this sequel, the family is imperiled when, no surprise, those dastardly Sky People (humans) return from their ruined planet to colonize Pandora – and in order to do that, they have to “subdue” the indigenous people with Custer-style attacks upon villages. Not taking the effort to think up an original villain, Cameron makes the big bad guy a Na’vi-looking clone of Quaritch (I was also fine with leaving him behind in the first film) played by Stephen Lang, with his voice perfectly suited for a militaristic SOB. When the refugee family flees to the water world, the film dazzles with its visuals. The film is long, but its world building and action move it along expeditiously. </div><div><br /></div><div>It was a year of films that pay homage to the medium of film. Spielberg’s <i>The Fablemans</i> is a sentimental tribute to filmmaking and Spielberg himself with some typically overdrawn sequences, much didacticism about the technology of film and Judaism, along with sometimes squirm-worthy overacting especially by Paul Dano as the father and Michelle Williams as the mother. Seth Rogen comes off better, but my favorite supporting character is Monica (Chloe East), the perky doe-eyed teenager who takes Sammy (Spielberg’s alter-ego played by Gabriel LaBelle) into a bedroom decorated with crucifixes and religious images and tries to induce him to let Jesus into his heart. With some nicely subtle sequences mixed in with all of Spielberg’s tendencies to overdo it, <i>The Fablemans</i> cannot fail to move the film lover in us, especially for me when it ends with a glowing tribute to John Ford set to the main theme from <i>The Searchers</i>. The epic <i>Babylon</i> works a wilder, more outrageous tribute to filmmaking, with wannabe filmmaker Manny (played by the very promising Diego Calva) acting as our eyes on the rise and fall of Hollywood stars during the monumental transition from the Silent Era to sound. Through Manny’s eyes, we follow a Clark Gable-like Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt) and a hyperactive, profane ingenue, Nellie LeRoy (Margo Robbie), in the wild and woolly Hollywood of the late 1920s, a pagan Babylon of epic orgies, filmmaking excess (the shooting of the men-in-armor battle sequence is a tremendous episode in which poorly paid extras are left wounded and bleeding beside dead horses), and the perversions of the high and mighty with too much money on their hands. Making an impressive visual tribute to the Hollywood films of the 1930s, <i>Pearl</i>, the horror prequel to <i>X</i>, with Mia Goth as a forlorn girl (who grows up to be the psycho farm woman in <i>X</i>) yearning to escape the isolation and boredom of farm life to become a movie star, employs vivid technicolor and an old-fashioned musical score reminiscent of <i>Gone With the Wind</i> to allude to films such as <i>The Searchers</i> (the barn door opening to reveal the first scene) and <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> (the fences and the cornfield – oh, and the scarecrow!). </div><div><br /></div><div>In the critics’ favorite, <i>The Banshees of Inisherin</i> Colin Farrell offers a fine performance as a mild-mannered “nice guy,” living on an isolated Irish island, whose best friend, played by Brendan Gleeson, one day unexpectedly and inexplicably says he never wants to talk to him again. I loved the first half of the film with its location shots of the austere beauty of Ireland, the humor, and the unusual language, but the story lost me in the second half. Can’t say I share the critical enthusiasm. Steven Soderbergh’s spare character study, <i>Kimi</i>, examines a young woman (Zoey Kravitz) who has been turned into an agoraphobic recluse by COVID-19. She works at home examining customers’ dialogues on Kimi, a very advanced form of Siri, and her concern for a customer turns the film into a nicely executed Hitchcockian thriller. <i>Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody</i> is a standard bio-pic, but Naomi Ackie, who plays Houston, very convincingly performs to Whitney’s recorded vocals! She fooled me! The popular, highly praised, most-likely-to-be-Oscar-nominated <i>Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery</i> is a moderately diverting star-studded mystery, with Daniel Craig hamming it up, that left me cold as glass. In TÁR, Cate Blanchett is superb and chillingly arrogant as the egotistical symphony conductor, Lydia Tár, whose arrogance is her undoing. The film starts out slow but gains ominous momentum. At the end of the month, I finally saw <i>The Menu</i> which had been playing for weeks, and I especially enjoyed the talented performance of Anya Taylor-Joy as a rebellious, snarky millennial who finds herself invited to an exclusive restaurant where Chef (Ralph Fiennes) proceeds to exact punishment upon food snobs and immoral elitists with his uber-gourmet cuisine and elaborate presentation – and don’t say “eat.” On Netflix, I discovered <i>The Pale Blue Eye</i> with Christian Bale as a talented detective investigating murders and satanic rituals at West Point in the 1820s. With authentic, atmospheric locations, it is a substantial film worthy of the big screen, a gothic tale full of dark and disturbing gothic tropes, but the best part of the film is Harry Melling’s mesmerizing embodiment of Edgar Allan Poe, capturing his intellectual acuity and his almost creepy social awkwardness. (And, yes, this Harry Melling is the entirely trim and transformed Harry Melling who played the pudgy, bullying Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films!). I watched <i>Strange World</i> on Disney+, a Disney animated film, featuring dazzling but dizzying visuals, about an adventurous family exploring a strange new world and trying to stem an ecological disaster (ah, global warming!) – but the most noteworthy thing about the film is how it fully embraces the new world of inclusion, something Disney has been doing faithfully with their Disney Channel films long before the Black Lives Matter movement. The film includes characters who are Black, Asian, Latino, gay, and lesbian. Finally, having missed it when it was released, I rented <i>Elvis</i> and found it an irresistible ride through multiple decades and the career of Elvis Presley, told here in a frenzy of fast cuts, intercuts, and montage as frenetic as Presley’s style. Austin Butler is wonderfully passionate in the title role – his stage performances are tremendous; Tom Hanks is simply bizarre. </div><div> </div><div>THE NOMINEES FOR BEST ACTOR ARE –
Austin Butler for <i>Elvis,</i>
Diego Calva for <i>Babylon,</i>
Colin Farrell for <i>The Banshees of Inisherin,</i>
Harry Melling for <i>The Pale Blue Eye,</i> Brad Pitt for <i>Babylon. </i>And the Award goes to –
(Below) </div><div><br /></div><div>THE NOMINEES FOR BEST ACTRESS ARE –
Ana de Armas for <i>Blonde,</i>
Mia Goth for <i>Pearl,</i>
Dakota Johnson for <i>Persuasion,</i>
Keke Palmer for <i>Nope,</i>
Margot Robbie for <i>Babylon.</i>
And the Bellamy Award goes to –
(Below) </div><div> </div><div>PERFORMANCE HONORABLE MENTIONS: Timothée Chalamet for <i>Bones and All,</i>
Danielle Deadwyler for <i>Till,</i>
Chloe East for <i>The Fablemans,</i>
Colin Farrell for <i>Thirteen Lives,</i>
Daniel Kaluuya for <i>Nope,</i> Barry Keoghan for <i>The Banshees of Inisherin,</i>
Amber Midthunder for <i>Prey,</i>
Taylor Russell for <i>Bones and All,</i>
Anya Taylor-Joy for <i>The Menu.</i> </div><div><br /></div><div>THE NOMINEES FOR BEST PICTURE ARE –
<i>Babylon,</i>
<i>Blonde,</i>
<i>Fall,</i>
<i>Nope,</i>
<i>Prey.</i>
And the Bellamy Award goes to –
(Below) </div><div><br /></div><div>BEST FILM HONORABLE MENTIONS:
<i>All Quiet on the Western Front,</i>
<i>Athena,</i>
<i>Bones and All,</i>
<i>Thirteen Lives,</i>
<i>Pearl,</i> <i>Persuasion</i> </div><div><br /></div><div>AND THE WINNERS ARE – </div><div><br /></div><div>BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Barry Keoghan for <i>The Banshees of Inisherin</i> </div><div><br /></div><div>BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Chloe East for <i>The Fablemans</i> </div><div><br /></div><div>BEST ACTOR:
Harry Melling for <i>The Pale Blue Eye</i> </div><div> </div><div>BEST ACTRESS:
Ana de Armas for <i>Blonde</i> </div><div><br /></div><div>BEST PICTURE:
<i>Blonde</i>
</div>Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-24049035139741445682022-12-07T19:57:00.003-05:002022-12-12T08:36:32.209-05:00Hard Heels on a Hardwood Floor: The Three Days of Jeanne Dielman: An Experiment in Viewing<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio5EWGjoAonxk2QnEiJ28-gZPp7LlB__fBp9xms4dqpr2wl2cS1kPPqkVwqFkohJEqZXqO3Kfnjt_YAWixs1pJnOJ4VLgRHjvgf8jdCNvakNrHPu4sOB6Ut3zqmbHXFLX1IKLW3O49Rz0JKHOUFSpRfAemZIdE1_Z3W0F8tbK0wP81tg6-OwGu94TAXQ/s290/images.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="174" data-original-width="290" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio5EWGjoAonxk2QnEiJ28-gZPp7LlB__fBp9xms4dqpr2wl2cS1kPPqkVwqFkohJEqZXqO3Kfnjt_YAWixs1pJnOJ4VLgRHjvgf8jdCNvakNrHPu4sOB6Ut3zqmbHXFLX1IKLW3O49Rz0JKHOUFSpRfAemZIdE1_Z3W0F8tbK0wP81tg6-OwGu94TAXQ/w386-h291/images.jpg" width="386" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I recently learned that <i>Jeanne Dielman, 23 quay du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles</i> had been chosen by Sight and Sound as the greatest film of all time.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I have seen a lot of movies of all kinds from popular blockbusters to experimental arthouse films, but I had never heard of <i>Jeanne Dielman, 23 quay du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles</i>.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Googling, I learned that it is a 201-minute film by Belgian director Chantal Akerman, set mostly in a small apartment in Brussels, following the everyday routines a woman who takes care of her son and turns tricks when he’s at school in order to support them. Most of the film covers Jeanne’s sometimes obsessive-compulsive domestic chores, shot in real-time, most of them shot with a static camera capturing very lengthy cuts.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The soundtrack is all ambient sound – and much of it seems overloud – often brashly so. Somewhat unsettling is the constant clacking of the heels of Jeanne’s pumps on the wooden floor. Why does Jeanne wear these hard shoes all day long while doing chores? Doesn’t she have a pair of slippers? Rather irritating are the squeals of the cabinet doors and the loud mechanical operations of the old elevator. One of the loudest sounds – inordinately so – is the crinkling of the brown paper covering a package Jeanne opens with a pair of scissors just before the film’s climax.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The film encompasses three days, and superscript tells you when the first day and the second day end. The film starts on the first day in the kitchen as Jeanne makes dinner. She walks back and forth throughout the house, the heels of her uncomfortable-looking pumps constantly clacking.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">WARNING: IN COMING TO TERMS WITH THIS FILM, I INCLUDE LOTS OF PLOT SUMMARY HERE AND A MAJOR SPOILER – SO BEWARE!</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jeanne is a sex worker making money to support herself and her son, but all we see of that is the man arriving and following her down to her bedroom door. Then the door opens. The job is done. They come out and go to the door. The man pays. Jeanne goes to the bedroom and takes the towel she has laid down to protect her bedspread and she puts it in the laundry basket. Nothing said. No emotion. She takes a bath, washes the tub.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Sylvain, her coldly taciturn and aloof son, as detached as Jeanne’s customer, comes home. She hangs up his coat and scarf. Can’t he do that for himself? Jeanne serves her son meals, pampers him, ties his scarf when he leaves for school the next day. He doesn’t say much, doesn’t seem very grateful. She serves him dinner. Always aloof, he says nothing, reads his book until she tells him no books at the table – her only admonishment amidst all her uncomplaining service to him. In the morning, she gives him money for the day and he asks for more. He comes off as a cold asshole.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On two nights, they eat real-time. The first night, it’s spoonful after spoonful after spoonful of soup until they are all done! Then it’s potatoes and stew. She washes the dishes. Later, they sit in the living room. He reads. She turns the pages of a slim newspaper, folds it, puts it away. She takes out knitting, knits a knot, puts it away. It all seems odd.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Realism or surrealism? She moves through her deliberately scripted, mundane routines like an automaton. She never hums or sings or listens to music or talks to herself. Her life and expressions are monotonously the same. Also, there is nothing quirky or interesting about what she does. It is all monotonous and mechanical.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On the surface, this is realism. On the other hand, none of it feels real. Is this allegory – feminist commentary about the lives of women?</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On Day Two, Jeanne keeps going on – her heels forever clacking. Making the bed, folding clothes, washing the dishes, drying the dishes, everything done with OCD neatness and sameness.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But this day is different. Jeanne gets to go out! She goes to the post office. She is communicating with her sister in Canada. She goes to a café, sits at a corner table, and drinks coffee.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Then another thing happens differently. At home, the doorbell rings. Unseen, a mother passes a baby in a baby basket in to Jeanne with a simple “Bon jour.” Jeanne sets the baby down on the table and ignores it. The baby’s mom picks her up a short time later, talks extensively about buying meat for dinner, and leaves. When this baby exchange happens again for a short time on the third day, you wonder if the mother is turning tricks too!</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jeanne receives another client, and the sequence happens the same way as the previous day, all the same, but Day Two reveals more subtle differences. In the kitchen, she forgets something. She looks askance, seems irritated with herself. She does things more slowly. She doesn’t know where to place a hot pot. She carries it to the bathroom and back to the kitchen. She puts it in the sink and strains it. What was that all about? Oops! Only one potato! She has to go out and buy another bag.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Her life seems bleak. That evening, she once again glances at the newspaper for a very short time and then takes out her knitting, knits a few knots, and then stops and puts her knitting kit away. Does she have trouble concentrating? No book to read? The living-room is bare and bookless.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The most unusual moment in all this mundane monotony happens that night. There is very little dialogue in the whole movie, and Sylvain speaks very little until, out of the blue, he talks in a bland monotone about talking to his friend about sex, how his friend said a penis is like a sword, and how he hated his father thinking about him having sex with his mom and hurting her with his big sword,</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On the third morning, she gets up and seems introspective. Will this day be different? In the kitchen, she kneads the ingredients for meat loaf for a long time! A very long time! Maybe she is thinking about how she is a slave to routines that serve her cold, aloof son and her cold, expressionless sex customers.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We see her first major expression of dissatisfaction when she pours coffee from a thermos into a glass and adds milk. She doesn’t like the taste. She dumps it. She tastes the milk. It seems okay. She makes café au lait again and adds two lumps of sugar – two lumps that she places side by side on the table and scrutinizes. Still, it’s not good. She dumps the coffee. She grinds fresh coffee, boils water, makes drip coffee. She moves around the apartment, clack, clack, clack.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When the shocking climax comes, it’s almost as if she’s driven insane by her OCD routines and clacking of her heels. Her whole life is doing things – mostly in the kitchen.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">After making fresh coffee, she sits in the living room and stares. Then she jumps up and goes to the dining room cabinet and dusts things.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The baby is delivered to her apartment again, and now the most discordant thing happens. The baby fusses and cries when she picks her up and the sound of the baby’s crying is sharp, screeching, the volume disturbingly loud. She leaves the screeching baby, goes into the kitchen to eat something, and the doorbell rings. She ignores the ring for a while. Then she gets up and brings the baby to the door.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">She goes out again, this time in search of a button for a coat for Sylvain given to her by her sister. She goes to a number of shops, but fails to find the right button. Is Jeanne’s world crumbling? When she goes to her café this time, someone is sitting at her favorite table and she is taken aback. When she gets her coffee, she doesn’t drink it, pays, and leaves.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">At the entrance to her apartment building, she finds a package by her mailbox. She takes it upstairs. She takes the package into her bedroom where the towel on the bed awaits her afternoon sex client. She tries to untie the string, but can’t, so she gets scissors from the kitchen and cuts the sting and opens the box to find a blouse.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When the doorbell rings, announcing her daily client, she puts the package under the bed, the crinkling of the brown paper excessively loud, and she puts the scissors on her dressing table.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We see Jeanne lying under her customer. There is nothing sexy about the whole thing. He is hardly moving, coming very slowly to a climax, and now we see the first dramatic change in Jeanne’s temperament. She’s feeling uneasy. She wants this to be over. She twists the bedspread with her hand. She is trapped. She struggles and the guy comes.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When she is putting on her blouse, the man lies on his back, making no move to leave. Jeanne goes to her dressing table, picks up the pair of scissors, and stabs him in the neck. He gasps and dies – too quickly for a stab to the neck – the whole thing staged very unrealistically – no choking, slow, blood-spurting death.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Finally – cut to the film’s last and perhaps longest cut, shot with a static camera. In dim light, Jeanne sits at the dining room table. She doesn’t seem distressed – as though she hasn’t just killed someone. Shouldn’t she be realizing that her life is ruined? Will Sylvain notice when he comes home? Most likely, he won’t notice anything is wrong as long as she hangs up his coat and scarf and makes dinner. Not worried, she just sits in the dining room, blood on her hand, blood on her blouse, staring and thinking for a very long time, though it isn’t clear what she’s thinking about. She seems spent, at peace, fulfilled. She’s not upset. We hear the traffic noises accentuated. Street lights are reflected in the glass of the china cabinet.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The choice of this film as the greatest film of all time seems reactionary. The white, male filmmakers have ruled top positions on many greatest-films lists for too long. Here’s a film by a female filmmaker that is one of the first feminist films. People might scoff at the choice of this film for the eminent top ranking. When I learned that the film is largely everyday routine for 201 minutes, I was certainly wondering at the choice, so I had to see the movie in order to judge it.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Do I think it’s the greatest film of all time? It’s certainly interesting – more interesting than I thought it could be – and thought-provoking, but not the greatest film for me. It’s a good, clever, artistic film and provides a lot to talk about. I am totally sympathetic with Jeanne’s plight, her slavery and entrapment, her service to men, and it got me thinking about the oppressive nature of daily routine, especially when you think about doing those routines over and over and over again. I found her world somewhat compelling – what Jeanne does is inherently boring but you are compelled to watch.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Still, I never felt much of an emotional connection with Jeanne. She doesn’t reveal much of herself; she doesn’t invite an alliance of feelings. She simply does things until she reaches critical mass and breaks out of routine in a shocking way that seems excessive and out of character. I had been exposed to THE big spoiler before I watched, but knowing what was going to happen probably compelled me to have patience and watch the whole thing, and it allowed me to trace the signs that seem to lead to her dramatic act. I wonder how I would have reacted to the ending if I hadn’t known what was coming. I might have thought it was absurd, especially since it happens without any sort of realism. It is an inherently dramatic act that is portrayed without drama. Her violent act comes off as bland and routine as making meat loaf.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> </span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> </span><p></p></div>Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-13174218380502934992022-09-29T10:16:00.008-04:002022-12-07T19:33:16.994-05:00Disturbing Beauty<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtdV5KVl2Lk4SoTQx6qEb_GD3UWpZylwmNriw0IVqeOiz0bfTrYbfwszeJYyHCksIim1gXxBVQaR1KW0Na1eQ4l_7_CuUN4p6add0wVCR1SCZUWzB97cBOQz4dmeOUo-nPXEvc6YduNSPxtqKB8HbLei1vg8TVH0Sjmln5xbCT6m7oor7pVSvnp1yqDQ/s259/download.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtdV5KVl2Lk4SoTQx6qEb_GD3UWpZylwmNriw0IVqeOiz0bfTrYbfwszeJYyHCksIim1gXxBVQaR1KW0Na1eQ4l_7_CuUN4p6add0wVCR1SCZUWzB97cBOQz4dmeOUo-nPXEvc6YduNSPxtqKB8HbLei1vg8TVH0Sjmln5xbCT6m7oor7pVSvnp1yqDQ/w310-h232/download.jpg" width="310" /></a></div><br /><i>Blonde</i> is a beautifully disturbing film. The story is hard to watch, but you can't take your eyes off the film's images. Alternating use of color, black-and-white, and various aspect ratios that hearken back to the American film industry’s classic era make this a stunning, visual feast – while the story is emotionally exhausting. <p></p><p>This is not a standard bio-pic that chronicles famous episodes in a celebrity’s life with bland fidelity to the facts and what everyone said. This is a bio-pic of internal rather than external events. It is a nightmarish, stream-of-consciousness, inner biography of a troubled woman’s descent into painful crisis. </p><p>The cinematography makes the disturbing elements beautiful. Images float and melt and focus into awesome vividness like the stream-of-consciousness images of a Terrence Malick film. </p><p>Pay attention to sound. The use of ambient background sound and white noise fixes you in sometimes mundane moments in the story. Harsh, alien sounds destroy any moment of peace or beauty. </p><p>Meanwhile, the camera focuses on objects – a box, a glass, a black phone - drawing your attention to the scene, making them vivid players in the story. </p><p>Ana de Armas invests herself in Marilyn so deeply that there is no taint of self-conscious artifice. Norma Jean battles with being Marilyn Monroe, and de Armas shifts touchingly and convincingly between the schizophrenic sides of a disturbed individual haunted by a harsh past who is trying to survive in a world of vampiric, rapacious males – the many jeering, catcalling, twisted, open-mouthed, ugly faces of men watching Marilyn making an appearance - feeding off Norma/Marilyn’s delicate vulnerability.</p>Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-24187789944076966182018-11-30T09:36:00.002-05:002019-05-16T07:07:16.541-04:00Nouveau Western Surrealism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqiPgRANF-4Czypj8tSuFuuIFeAWadCfPzva46fW_q12WzeRWt8xrSu873yaBYc8iiZ7YtIfdt1wO58PLwIejIKhdgqibwFsToEztWWhRRujoJMarBHrk80LtKttzwGZm5jng501_wylIf/s1600/TheBalladofBusterScruggs_trailer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqiPgRANF-4Czypj8tSuFuuIFeAWadCfPzva46fW_q12WzeRWt8xrSu873yaBYc8iiZ7YtIfdt1wO58PLwIejIKhdgqibwFsToEztWWhRRujoJMarBHrk80LtKttzwGZm5jng501_wylIf/s400/TheBalladofBusterScruggs_trailer.jpg" width="400" height="216" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="862" /></a></div><br />
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The release of the Netflix film <i>The Ballad of Buster Scruggs</i> (2018), written and directed by the Coen brothers, contributes to a Western film renaissance marked by what I call Nouveau Western Surrealism, a recent sub-genre that blends classic Western realism and romanticism with touches of surrealism, cruel irony, dark humor, and sardonic manipulations of standard tropes into something entirely new. Though I prefer more traditional Westerns (<i>Open Range</i> and <a href="http://hokahey-littleworlds.blogspot.com/2010/03/assassination-of-jesse-james-by-coward.html"> <i>The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford</i></a> have been the best Westerns of this century’s first decade), I love Westerns and I gladly embrace this millennial sub-genre.<br />
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<i>The Ballad of Buster Scruggs</i>, an anthology of six Western tales, presented as stories from an old book, offers some gritty scenes of realism: burying a deceased traveler along the Oregon Trail; panning for gold; setting up a traveling show in grungy mining towns – along with large doses of absurdity and grim irony: a singing cowboy; a bank robber rescued from hanging by an Indian attack; an armless, legless poet reciting Shakespeare in a traveling show; a stagecoach acting as Charon’s boat to the kingdom of the dead. <br />
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<i>Scruggs</i> comes to us not long after the wide theatrical release of <i>The Sisters Brothers</i> (2018), directed by Jacques Audiard, another realism/surrealism hybrid starring Joaquin Phoenix, the perfect performer for Westerns of this ilk, and John C. Riley, whose style fits wonderfully into the film’s realism. The opening scene – a classic trope – stages a gunfight at a cabin, but we see it only as flashes of gunfire in pitch blackness. The film waxes surrealistic as the Sisters brothers are tasked with appropriating the invention of a scientist (Jake Gyllenhaal in memorably quirky style): a gold-finding method that involves adding chemicals to a stream to illuminate the gold nuggets - and it works with grim results. When the Sisters brothers strive to change their ways and hang up their hired guns, they must evade constant pursuit by bounty hunters, but the film ends with an amazingly touching moment of homecoming and motherly love that is one of the best sequences I've seen this year. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLwNqyxqgqVWlvWm5G0DvuTH85Jv8XSr3NUzC5L605FsZFVUVhEp2Cx5o172PZy2dT2zDXDaXJCVI3bqkqSS1iT2kKXVoGOqOPspjFeSSBa2QZz2_gHPw7mBAkzGWDkte-Vw-4376jdYtO/s1600/the-sisters-brothers-trailer-e-poster-della-dark-comedy-western-con-joaquin-phoenix-john-c-reilly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLwNqyxqgqVWlvWm5G0DvuTH85Jv8XSr3NUzC5L605FsZFVUVhEp2Cx5o172PZy2dT2zDXDaXJCVI3bqkqSS1iT2kKXVoGOqOPspjFeSSBa2QZz2_gHPw7mBAkzGWDkte-Vw-4376jdYtO/s400/the-sisters-brothers-trailer-e-poster-della-dark-comedy-western-con-joaquin-phoenix-john-c-reilly.jpg" width="400" height="224" data-original-width="1066" data-original-height="598" /></a></div><br />
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Shortly before <i>The Sisters Brothers</i> came the limited release of <i>Damsel</i> (2018), directed by David and Nathan Zellner, starring Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikowska. In this case, the story is more surrealism than classic realism as Samuel’s quest to wed his damsel in distress leads to strange irony and a grim look at life in the Old West. The opening scene – out in the middle of nowhere - in which a preacher, broken by hardship, plans to abandon the West - is pure surrealism portraying the harsh truth about life on the frontier. The straight cut to Robert Pattinson as he zealously engages in a boot-stomping dance with the girl that he loves is a beautiful moment. Indeed, Pattinson’s oddball performance is engaging throughout, and Wasikowska aptly portrays a strong damsel who needs no rescue from distress. While the film includes humorous bits of Western deconstruction, it also includes quirky interludes that are nothing but ludicrous and disappointing. The film ends with an enigmatic metaphor. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjznnU9_FxsQSvuHXO4xN9UuvFVzFnMSgX-5LJwp2NIsiPeJ8DKY4e9EhUuS9XRFBGxMSnsh8b1Qk_71bm8vpO8tWNZ0itgIpZaBWiZhFTwFbQf5ZoM6xhgttsDmO0b_0wUu3Mhw5gQUidg/s1600/201814634_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjznnU9_FxsQSvuHXO4xN9UuvFVzFnMSgX-5LJwp2NIsiPeJ8DKY4e9EhUuS9XRFBGxMSnsh8b1Qk_71bm8vpO8tWNZ0itgIpZaBWiZhFTwFbQf5ZoM6xhgttsDmO0b_0wUu3Mhw5gQUidg/s400/201814634_4.jpg" width="400" height="167" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="667" /></a></div><br />
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<i>Bone Tomahawk</i> (2015), directed by S. Craig Zahler, makes a point of distinguishing itself as a different kind of Western that blends action-oater tropes with a bizarre story. Here a traditional quest to rescue a rancher’s wife leads to a desperate struggle with stone-age cannibals. Thus, traditional Western tropes, carried along by the performances of Kurt Russell, Richard Jenkins, and Patrick Wilson as traditional Western character types, meet elements of horror and absurdity. Watching this film, with its very disturbing scene of cannibalistic butchery in preparation for the feast, it was clear to see that the Westerns had undergone a distinct metamorphosis. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu-t-4cEK5StPoytXU4_2XhArxn4Znhh_wRoXy11AH3yRpI-8HYQvDo75NUgei-PmFQvxSq-qzQ8NNrgY1H8SJYHQs81ZP58y6GyOIB8o8_JQzcweryi8jYS7wotsqjn_UQ1R1DuWHJ1iI/s1600/screenshot4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu-t-4cEK5StPoytXU4_2XhArxn4Znhh_wRoXy11AH3yRpI-8HYQvDo75NUgei-PmFQvxSq-qzQ8NNrgY1H8SJYHQs81ZP58y6GyOIB8o8_JQzcweryi8jYS7wotsqjn_UQ1R1DuWHJ1iI/s400/screenshot4.jpg" width="400" height="168" data-original-width="1280" data-original-height="536" /></a></div><br />
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Although most of the new Westerns make grand use of classic Western locations, <i>Slow West</i> (2015), directed by John Maclean, makes one think, “Whose woods these are, I think I do not know.” These woods sure don’t look Western - the film was shot mostly in New Zealand and Scotland. This ironic film features Michael Fassbender, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Ben Mendelsohn is the tale of a boy who comes all the way from Scotland in search of the girl he loves – only to meet violent characters and a tragically ironic end. In most of these Westerns, the West is a cruel place. This film, however, ends with the kind of twist typical of the sub-genre. Ultimately, the West is good to Michael Fassbender, the opportunistic bounty hunter who has protected and come to love the boy, - and he ends his elegiac narration with "O, for the West."<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh97OJW3-lM1AqJfOi1wR7H1Pm3VSQo9AsSbzN2DvRMWBbXT5G74PDJGRILL37yH86MjEL7H6n9yBh6L3Sg3fjaa_Je4ipeNxiMVRe8b0kR2Cz0O7qsvnZ1cTC8byJ_q3n0muOJpECfqXSj/s1600/slowthis-western-starring-michael-fassbender-is-hilarious-violent-and-awesome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh97OJW3-lM1AqJfOi1wR7H1Pm3VSQo9AsSbzN2DvRMWBbXT5G74PDJGRILL37yH86MjEL7H6n9yBh6L3Sg3fjaa_Je4ipeNxiMVRe8b0kR2Cz0O7qsvnZ1cTC8byJ_q3n0muOJpECfqXSj/s400/slowthis-western-starring-michael-fassbender-is-hilarious-violent-and-awesome.jpg" width="400" height="200" data-original-width="1050" data-original-height="525" /></a></div><br />
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Ethan Hawke and John Travolta recently donned Western duds to play in Ti West’s <i>In a Valley of Violence</i> (2016), an enjoyably gritty and atmospheric Western featuring standard tropes and some tense action. Filmed in New Mexico, the film is an attempt at pure Western classicism though it falls short of achieving significance. Nevertheless, the locations are bleakly rugged and the action is tense. What I appreciate is that here is a film that came about because of its risk-taking director and a versatile actor, Ethan Hawke, willing to throw himself into any kind of project. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhhjcZAo_K7U7YeVO1qxMZzyW6hS3aPAi_MrQLOwaM6WBHw5SAXP53_3SdQSZ-KZWKewZUkpmTycuYkPhytuOVuGUP4YL4B-TUWjz2I_mNzoxdlE6HGzlkT-WkIo9EaQvDpZDcz_25pxBE/s1600/large-screenshot3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhhjcZAo_K7U7YeVO1qxMZzyW6hS3aPAi_MrQLOwaM6WBHw5SAXP53_3SdQSZ-KZWKewZUkpmTycuYkPhytuOVuGUP4YL4B-TUWjz2I_mNzoxdlE6HGzlkT-WkIo9EaQvDpZDcz_25pxBE/s400/large-screenshot3.jpg" width="400" height="167" data-original-width="1280" data-original-height="534" /></a></div><br />
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Even the Danes have gotten into the act with the violent <i>The Salvation</i> (2014), directed by Kristian Levring, in which a Danish settler (Mads Mikkelsen) goes on the vengeance trail after the murder of his wife and son. Although filmed in South Africa, the film features ample Western action and the performance of Eva Green. <br />
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<i>Hostiles</i> (2017), directed by Scott Cooper, is another attempt at a straightforward Western for the new millennium. The film is modern revisionist in its apology for the treatment of Native Americans – though it goes further by pointing out the cruelties perpetrated by both sides of the conflict. Somewhat slow and ambling like a Howard Hawks film, but majestic and violent like a John Ford film, <i>Hostiles</i> features Christian Bale as an Indian-hating cavalryman ordered to escort a Cheyenne family back to their homeland. Along the way they rescue a frontier woman (Rosamund Pike) whose family has been killed by renegades. As a reflection more of millennial, wishful-thinking tolerance than nineteenth century attitudes, the two Indian haters ultimately embrace the Cheyenne as humans and end up protecting them from violence. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg56cKAoocE5Vwo9uoGNyHoqf_xNsk7Ljt3678MSL5-i9zcH33_t0GWvmxaKsX_ZcedOr6PlAxGnvFvfWfTsZskFKA08Cd9_vLCWj8Ma7lg-FIqtjAYZn55SLhxveqqznYQcWDCDdKTBQUh/s1600/hostiles-movie-christian-bale-photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg56cKAoocE5Vwo9uoGNyHoqf_xNsk7Ljt3678MSL5-i9zcH33_t0GWvmxaKsX_ZcedOr6PlAxGnvFvfWfTsZskFKA08Cd9_vLCWj8Ma7lg-FIqtjAYZn55SLhxveqqznYQcWDCDdKTBQUh/s400/hostiles-movie-christian-bale-photo.jpg" width="400" height="225" data-original-width="1000" data-original-height="563" /></a></div><br />
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No matter the anachronisms, the surrealism, the cruel ironies, the sardonic humor, the downright weirdness – the new Westerns embrace much of the classic Western spirit. These films make the best of their outdoor settings. They employ a musical score that is often traditional. They acknowledge the raw violence and the ruggedness of everyday life out West. They appreciate the drama of a well-staged shootout. And they make effective use of that picaresque style of many Western stories in which men and women on horseback head down the dusty trail toward whatever they might encounter over the next rise. “O, for the West.” <br />
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Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-63228598520370106802018-04-21T22:35:00.001-04:002018-04-21T22:35:55.782-04:00My Post-apocalyptic MovieEnjoy <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfNcvFDdHkA&t=15s">Solus</a>, my post-apocalyptic film. Catch the film allusions!Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-32483177625138605292017-10-08T14:58:00.001-04:002017-10-09T11:13:15.213-04:00God's Lonely Replicant: Blade Runner 2049<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLV8rRBlTmfVr-LRXG5WfC8HfbEWyiwohlz62Jna_RbHmllukUpN2vfCJsfNGTRRGrCrsNQUOCinAfh693zuFPnVzKQJUtf6aC7gw2coiwPDJu0-6Oy4-VudV3DiD1OvJxeQJKBMsRPuFs/s1600/blade3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLV8rRBlTmfVr-LRXG5WfC8HfbEWyiwohlz62Jna_RbHmllukUpN2vfCJsfNGTRRGrCrsNQUOCinAfh693zuFPnVzKQJUtf6aC7gw2coiwPDJu0-6Oy4-VudV3DiD1OvJxeQJKBMsRPuFs/s400/blade3.jpg" width="400" height="168" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="671" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihL_3ili8lS6ARjU_wPuUNS-JA6Wptc4ti-9PGmaZvmGmYk6cDuCDYHEPlqwtHdC_c5uMRRJsdVE5dn1vTvutnTNlODhbTxMxJkvLmx2_12ZQn4yT6AE1VBWOpY16ZRgJgtqJI2woLyLag/s1600/blade4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihL_3ili8lS6ARjU_wPuUNS-JA6Wptc4ti-9PGmaZvmGmYk6cDuCDYHEPlqwtHdC_c5uMRRJsdVE5dn1vTvutnTNlODhbTxMxJkvLmx2_12ZQn4yT6AE1VBWOpY16ZRgJgtqJI2woLyLag/s400/blade4.jpg" width="400" height="225" data-original-width="1396" data-original-height="785" /></a></div><br />
SPOILERS - YES!<br />
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<i>Blade Runner</i> (1982) moves at a slow pace through its perfectly established film noir construct, but the story carries a sense of brooding, ominous dread that makes this hour-and-fifty-seven-minute a compelling experience throughout. This gripping, ominous dread comes primarily from the performance of Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty, the advanced model synthetic human who strives to be a real human, and the film’s dark, congested setting, <br />
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<i>Blade Runner 2049</i> (2017), however, strolls along throughout its two hours and forty-five minutes without much that I found very compelling. Sure, there is mystery, but the mystery seems nothing newer than the questions established in the original film, and I felt no sense of ominous dread.<br />
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I love science fiction films, so I tend to be lenient in my critique of flawed sci-fi films that I like, but I felt little enthusiasm for this film beyond its visuals. The opening sequence in the desert establishes the mood and K’s character well. Then K flies over the low-lying outskirts of the metropolis, and as the buildings get taller, I felt a modicum of thrill, but then the high-rise cityscape is not nearly as dazzling or interesting as the city in the original. I loved Joi, K’s holo-girl friend, and I was very sorry that she gets deleted. In my favorite scene in the film, Joi melds her image with a prostitute’s body so that K can imagine holding and kissing Joi as though she were a real girl. <br />
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I get the heady philosophical questions posed by the film, but none of them seem any more compelling than the original film’s rather basic quandary: if you have feelings, are you real? The whole Pinocchio syndrome works well in the original film. We especially feel Roy Batty’s urge to live and be a real boy. <br />
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In 2049, this paradigm is inherent in the story as K, a synthetic programmed for obedience, searches for Deckard and Deckard’s mysterious offspring. Ooh, ah, is K a sci-fi Ethan Edwards on an existential search - God's lonely replicant? Okay, that's cool, but lets get down to some compelling obsession or lust for vengeance. Instead, the conflict seems flat. Where are the shocking revelations? This slow, tedious search seems directed toward the same questions we already know. <br />
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In the end, nothing happens with the revelation of Deckard’s daughter, even though there is an underground movement of replicants raring for rebellion. Unfortunately, rebellion never comes. Instead, we arrive at a flat climax. Deckard had a daughter, and K finds her.<br />
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Rachael gave birth to a daughter? How? Well, I guess that makes her as real as robots can get though I guess if Tyrell can create Roy to be the strong, emotional, philosophical being he is, then I suppose he can create a female synthetic who can get pregnant. The technology can be pushed to the limit; it's all fictional.<br />
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Meanwhile, not much is done with this premise, and it’s not very compelling – nothing more than the whole belabored question about the point at which a synthetic being becomes human (even though the answer seems simple: no matter how real technology gets, it’s still technology and not human). I guess you can go a step further - if you accept Rachael as human, then I guess you don't believe in God, so what's the worry about a soul? In a sense, perhaps we are all soulless fabrications.<br />
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Yep, I get all the great questions posed by this film but, even though I love to worship at the altar of Denis Villeneuve and Roger Deakins, I guess I need a film to be more than just a thought experiment.<br />
Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-70846219703995232752017-05-21T16:57:00.003-04:002017-10-09T11:17:15.449-04:00The Alien Saga - Favorite MomentsFrom <i>Alien</i> (1979)<br />
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When the landing party sights the alien ship, you know you are in for a different sort of ride.<br />
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"Look, Ma, no CGI!" It was a shocking, gory, visceral surprise! One of the best moments in cinematic history.<br />
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"Here, Kitty, Kitty."<br />
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"A perfect organism."<br />
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From <i>Aliens</i> (1986)<br />
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"Oh, man, we're really fucked!" Bill Paxton's most famous line.<br />
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When the huge Xenomorph rises up behind Newt - you get a full view of this "perfect organism.<br />
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When Ripley goes back alone for Newt - one of the most gripping moments in film. She loads herself down with weapons. She takes a deep breath, exhales, shakes off the tension - and now she is in the zone!<br />
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<i>Alien 3</i> (1992)<br />
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Up close and personal! An iconic image:<br />
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<i>Alien Resurrection</i> (1997)<br />
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Winona Ryder as the android with a license to kill - Xenomorphs.<br />
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Xenomorphs can swim underwater! One of my all-time favorite Alien images:<br />
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From <i>Prometheus</i> (2012)<br />
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"The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts." David the synthetic human (Michael Fassbender)alludes to <i>Lawrence of Arabia</i> and styles his hair after T.E. Lawrence. "Big things have small beginnings." Fassbender as David is one of the most awesome things about this film.<br />
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The Medpod operation - one of the most gruesome and gripping scenes in all six Alien movies.<br />
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The Xenomorph's evolution. Here, a gigantic, rather impractical face-hugger. Future modifications to come!<br />
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<i>Alien: Covenant</i> (2017)<br />
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A new "David" in a Kubrickian world:<br />
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The Engineers' planet:<br />
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All hell breaks loose on the landing shuttle. This is a wild, fast-paced, violent scene that provides a gripping turning point in the film.<br />
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Ooh! Aah! The Engineers got fucked by their own creation.<br />
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The Xenomorph - our favorite Alien - continues to evolve. Here it displays its signature aggression, tenacity, and downright meanness!<br />
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Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-90440048219543747912017-02-25T09:51:00.001-05:002017-02-27T06:44:55.779-05:00The 89th Academy Awards – Oscars Live Feed - La La Land Awards Watch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmqj20nMxr5A68lOeteLQfwOcHwUCFflfbmaQ5mRAeafxK1i5gDXSkERO8nqz2r_mY-xmWE3Iy9AX97cGsXqPUABZz9F1nc5AU9CJsgl9sQEtgnFxuTAopUli4p9bg60l9FC05ucFy0Fht/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmqj20nMxr5A68lOeteLQfwOcHwUCFflfbmaQ5mRAeafxK1i5gDXSkERO8nqz2r_mY-xmWE3Iy9AX97cGsXqPUABZz9F1nc5AU9CJsgl9sQEtgnFxuTAopUli4p9bg60l9FC05ucFy0Fht/s400/images.jpeg" width="400" height="224" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY83rcH-Bz2Fb5JJKK4twAIlOlKAsXtFRQMhWpuwUPifyTkSWobFLGQb7VS-xwrYXSZ6ros1LklsPlNfxQuv8JavRotXz02N6WnlxZu5eHGZ9zl6rlHbN9KynSuDCvI8WKtCDAJaZQk08B/s1600/images-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY83rcH-Bz2Fb5JJKK4twAIlOlKAsXtFRQMhWpuwUPifyTkSWobFLGQb7VS-xwrYXSZ6ros1LklsPlNfxQuv8JavRotXz02N6WnlxZu5eHGZ9zl6rlHbN9KynSuDCvI8WKtCDAJaZQk08B/s400/images-1.jpeg" width="400" height="227" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEt6O65Oq25gz1Q8KT3QiopRv2_B5z8Od5YChOwKwwHcF37uFwYQ3D4KBmMXDMTZDKRdaXQmzwAO4xj6fBliNQn2fYT5aC2W6gDg8bpUN2NO726YDR1yr-snC2kumFAs6zwX46UvOJc8jy/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEt6O65Oq25gz1Q8KT3QiopRv2_B5z8Od5YChOwKwwHcF37uFwYQ3D4KBmMXDMTZDKRdaXQmzwAO4xj6fBliNQn2fYT5aC2W6gDg8bpUN2NO726YDR1yr-snC2kumFAs6zwX46UvOJc8jy/s400/Unknown.jpeg" width="400" height="225" /></a></div><br />
<b>LIVE FEED STARTS AT 8:30 EST. All times noted will be EST. Don't forget to REFRESH the feed. Also, feel free to post comments. I will respond to comments on the post.</b> (See below for an explanation of my mission.)<br />
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Getting close to curtain time!<br />
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8:24: Emma Stone says, "Just keep going" in pursuing your dreams. <br />
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8:30: Good start! Justin Timberlake sings "Can't Stop the Feeling" all through the theater.<br />
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8:46: Finally - first award. No chance for <i>La La Land</i> in this category. I was saying earlier that often musicals have colorful supporting characters, but not in <i>La La</i>. Best Supporting Actor . . . and the winner is Mahershala Ali. MOONLIGHT: 1 LA LA LAND: 0.<br />
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8:52: <i>Suicide Squad</i> gets it for Makeup. In your face, <i>La La Land</i>! Oh, sorry, it wasn't nominated.<br />
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Uh, oh, the Costume Award. Some competition here. And the winner is . . . <i>Fantastic Beasts</i>. Sweet! Thank you, Harry and Hermione, for this magic trick. <i>La La Land</i> is now down two (since it's going against itself in Best Song). <br />
<br />
9:04: Okay, it's the wristwatch montage.<br />
<br />
9:10: Best Documentary - I have met Owen Suskind, the subject of <i>Life: Animated</i>. Darn, it didn't win! Then, again, neither did <i>La La Land</i>.<br />
<br />
9:26: Uh, oh, Sound Editing and Mixing. Know which is which? Editing creates the sound. Mixing adds it. <i>Arrival</i> I hope!<br />
<br />
Yes, <i>Arrival</i> gets it! <i>La La Land</i> is down three. It must win 11 to make the record. Not a chance! Feeling good! I like how, so far, there has been no sweep. <i>Arrival</i> deserved something.<br />
<br />
And <i>Hacksaw Ridge</i> gets something too. Mel is happy.<br />
<br />
9:33: We are in the clear! <i>La La Land</i> can only win 10, and it's not likely to do that. I kind of feel bad. Not really. But with the spread of Oscar winners - does that mean <i>Moonlight</i> or <i>Manchester</i> has a chance for Best Picture? Exciting!<br />
<br />
This also means my job is done! Goodnight! Naw, I'll hang in there a while longer.<br />
<br />
9:41: Best Supporting Actress - and the winner is . . . Viola Davis. Good one! Passionate acceptance speech. Good actress!<br />
<br />
9:57: Best Foreign Film goes to <i>The Salesman</i>. Protest speech from the director! Good one. How long will it take for a Trump Tweet?<br />
<br />
10:10: <i>Piper</i> wins for Best Animated Short - I saw it, but I have to say the clips from the other nominees looked better than <i>Piper</i> was.<br />
<br />
Best Animated Feature - I saw them all - and I loved <i>Zootopia</i> but it will be nice one day when a small studio wins in this category. I feel bad for <i>Kubo</i>.<br />
<br />
Ooh! "Fear of the Other" mentioned in acceptance speech. Wow, I taught that as reflected in 50s films in Film History at my former school where Film History no longer exists.<br />
<br />
Production Design goes to <i>La La Land</i>. Oh, well. Lots of competition here - but <i>Allied</i> deserved it for creating Casablanca in the 1940s, and it wasn't even nominated. <br />
<br />
10:19: So, you're taking a tour of the Kodak Theater while the Oscars are going on and you're taken backstage and you think you're not going to end up in the theater for a gag? Not likely.<br />
<br />
10:26: Okay, Special Effects - Felicity Jones is cute - I love her - and <i>The Jungle Book</i> gets it, deservedly, though I guess it's Disney and they've got the best of the best. Thought for a minute that <i>Kubo</i> might get it. <br />
<br />
10:36: Film Editing - thought we did this one. Oh, well - <i>Hacksaw Ridge</i> slips in another surprise of the evening. Thought for sure it would be <i>La La Land</i> or <i>Arrival</i>. Man, and I was worried <i>La La Land</i> would sweep the Oscars. <br />
<br />
10:58: All right, Cinematography - this is what film is all about and we have images of an alien spacecraft and Japan in the 1500s and crowd scenes in India and the touching swimming scene in <i>Moonlight</i> and the Oscar goes to <i>La La Land</i> with images that are 95% digital effects. <br />
<br />
11:09: Ah, snooze, a song from <i>La La Land</i>. Don't know if I'm going to make it much longer. Bed sounds good. No worries about <i>La La Land</i> hitting the record, so my job is done. <br />
<br />
11:15: Yeah, now it starts. <i>La La Land</i> scores for Score. I love musical scores - and I can't think of one memorable score this year. No <i>Mad Max: Fury Road</i> this year,<br />
<br />
Best Song - <i>La La Land</i> wins one, loses the other.<br />
<br />
WTF! - "I was educated in a public school where arts and music are valued." Yeah, right, if the school gets enough funding! Otherwise, not. And I guess private schools don't value arts - so that's why I directed 28 full-length stage productions. <br />
<br />
11:30: Okay, the Matt Damon roasting was fun. <i>Manchester</i> takes Best Original Screenplay. Nice achievement!<br />
<br />
11:33: Amy Adams and her boobs announce nominees for Best Adapted and the winner is <i>Moonlight</i> I predict . . . <br />
<br />
11:34: . . . and I'm right!<br />
<br />
And the Best Director (shown below directing a tense zombie sequence):<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9FYho5Qe4vlA-eH7vilIWJcmZZ9Gn6tjHLji3CBgWeq9KJL0wSpeKSASXYjuczXIhGeFTVNw0oXSCeIz76O23cnD1dSTvExZGXsdTs5mHXF8wFCYMYgfndBi-bIBADV1n0GC8Hb6jiQc1/s1600/A72.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9FYho5Qe4vlA-eH7vilIWJcmZZ9Gn6tjHLji3CBgWeq9KJL0wSpeKSASXYjuczXIhGeFTVNw0oXSCeIz76O23cnD1dSTvExZGXsdTs5mHXF8wFCYMYgfndBi-bIBADV1n0GC8Hb6jiQc1/s320/A72.jpg" width="320" height="240" /></a></div><br />
11:51: Casey Affleck wins Best Actor! Bravo!<br />
<br />
11:54: Best Actress: will it be "the crack whore" (according to an unwanted Tweeter), I mean, Emma Stone? Yes, it is. Uh, like, kind of overrated, I think.<br />
<br />
Do I need stay up for Best Picture?<br />
<br />
And the winner is . . . could it be a surprise? <br />
<br />
Yes, it is. <i>Moonlight</i> wins, deservedly, but not until after the Emma Stone - Best Actress/Faye Dunaway Flub. Warren Beatty opens the envelope. He looks puzzled or maybe it's just senility. He looks in the envelope for another card. Looks like he's toying with the contestants. Faye takes the card. Reading skills! She doesn't call anyone over to explain what the Emma Stone card might mean. She announces <i>La La Land</i> - which would be anyone's best guess based on the Best Director win. But Price Waterhouse screwed up big-time.<br />
<br />
<i>Moonlight</i> wins Best Picture.<br />
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<br />
<br />
***************************************************************************************************<br />
<br />
The nominations are all over <i>La La Land</i> even though I don’t know how popular it was with viewers. Viewers liked it – okay. I was underwhelmed. No catchy songs – and the songs didn’t elicit much emotion. Not much story – and what story there is has been told multiple times: young persons pursue their dreams in Hollywood, fall in love, one makes it, the other makes it so-so. <br />
<br />
So why has this film been so popular with critics and the Academy?<br />
<br />
1. It’s called <i>La La Land</i> and it’s about Hollywood.<br />
<br />
2. It’s a musical. People in a traffic-jam burst into a sprightly dance number. Emma Stone swishes her dress as she embarks on a girls’ night out on the town with her roomies.<br />
<br />
3. Trump got us all depressed. Then along came <i>La La Land</i> to cheer us up, and musicals are inherently cheerful.<br />
<br />
So here’s my prediction: <i>La La Land</i> will win Best Picture, and I’m fine with that. It’s a done deal – unless this year’s awards turn out to be as surprising as the recent Super Bowl. I expect it to win. I enjoyed the other films nominated for Best Picture but I’m not passionate about any of them. I think <i>Moonlight</i> is the best-made film of the lot – the artistic and touching indie – but I’m not passionate about it.<br />
<br />
Again, I don’t care if <i>La La</i> wins Best Picture and a bunch of other awards it doesn’t really deserve.<br />
<br />
I just don’t want it to win 11 awards to tie the record or, horrors, surpass the record! I don’t want it to tie <i>Ben-Hur</i> and <i>Titanic</i> for most Oscars won: 11. (Yeah, yeah, that includes <i>Return of the King</i> too, but that was more of an installment or episode – part of a masterpiece trilogy that deserved some sort of award.) Beyond the fact that <i>Ben-Hur</i> has the unsurpassed chariot race and <i>Titanic</i> has the masterful sinking of the great ship - oh, and Kate Winslet in the drawing scene, let’s not get into why I don’t want <i>La La</i> to win 11 or 12. Let’s move on.<br />
<br />
If you care about this, the situation is very dicey!<br />
<br />
Here’s the deal - <i>La La</i> is nominated for 14 awards. Yikes! This makes me nervous – but wait! It can’t win 14 because it’s competing against itself for Best Song. It could win 13, but that won’t happen. Gosling won’t take Best Actor against Affleck or Denzel. That bumps it down to 12. It must lose two more! I predict, I hope, it will not win for Best Original Screenplay. Voters might want to honor <i>Manchester By the Sea</i>. That cuts it down to 11. <br />
<br />
Oh, shit! One more! It must lose one more! <br />
<br />
It does not deserve Best Cinematography - there's <i>Silence</i> and <i>Arrival</i>, but when the Academy voters latch onto a favorite they vote without imagination and they fall into sweep fever – give it all to the favorite! Or, Justin Timberlake could come through for us and take Best Song for "Can't Stop the Feeling" - the kind of catchy song <i>La La</i> needed. Could Meryl Streep's outlandish costume for <i>Florence Foster Jenkins</i> choke the competition? Could the Force be with us so that <i>Rogue One</i> gets it for Sound Mixing? Unfortunately, <i>Allied</i> - which created multiple blocks of Casablanca and London in the 1940s - is not nominated for Production Design. <br />
<br />
In the spirit of meaningless pursuits – at a time when such trivial diversions are crucial for maintaining one's sanity during the current administration in Washington - join me for a Live Feed <i>La La Land</i> Watch this Sunday, February 26, at 8:30 EST (at 5:30 out there in La La Land).<br />
<br />
(Once the winners start being announced – be sure to refresh this feed for updates.)Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-54359093702321211742016-11-15T11:42:00.002-05:002016-11-15T11:42:59.020-05:00Hannah – Past or Future? – The Non-linear Time Paradox in Arrival <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNDJf1MSJ-QGSihmNKQIP-I0mKZmt4tRnCKTRTLKrGPVew23os7E1c7-fY5BahKOogpi6FAH856BpozoabEc2ArYfzL7lmLID8cQOLOM5knrI6efeaHOWonWzAjNM0Ve0FMusIgs1nHNwn/s1600/arrival+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNDJf1MSJ-QGSihmNKQIP-I0mKZmt4tRnCKTRTLKrGPVew23os7E1c7-fY5BahKOogpi6FAH856BpozoabEc2ArYfzL7lmLID8cQOLOM5knrI6efeaHOWonWzAjNM0Ve0FMusIgs1nHNwn/s320/arrival+image.jpg" width="320" height="213" /></a></div><br />
<b>BEWARE! BIG SPOILERS! THIS DISCUSSES THE ENDING!</b><br />
<br />
How refreshing it is to watch a well-made film that makes you think and compels you to view it again – which I did, and I plan to see it again. <i>Arrival</i> is the kind of film that stimulates examination and discussion – and one question I wonder about is whether Hannah is born BA (before the aliens arrive) or AA (after aliens).<br />
<br />
Just about all the websites, YouTube videos, reviews, and chatlines I consulted say – and rather bluntly as though you’re an idiot if you think otherwise – Hannah is born AA – period – or, PERIOD!, as some posts put it. If we go with AA, then the opening scenes involving Hannah are presented out of sequence, which is kind of a gimmicky trick that cheats the audience into accepting, as most viewers would accept, that a depressed women seeing her young daughter is having flashbacks – not flashforwards.<br />
<br />
Most of these sites that I consulted start with, “That’s the way it is in short story.” But this is not a strong argument because, we know, filmmakers love to adapt and “re-envision” their source material – often to the outrage of readers faithful to the source material. At least, filmmakers may not change the source radically, but they love to inject ambiguity. In my film course, I had young students who hated ambiguity. I love it! <br />
<br />
For this film, ambiguity is all in keeping with the non-linear time paradox that is part of heptapodese – also in keeping with palindromic nature of Hannah’s name – which can also be read the same way backwards as follows: hannaH. Ooh, ah!<br />
<br />
I have no problem placing Hannah’s life – from birth to premature death – AA or BA. I suppose AA needs no argument here since that’s “the way it is in the short story”! Also, toward the end of the film, it seems that Louise is learning that she can time-shift as part of comprehending heptapodese. Still, if we go with BA, Louise gets to time-shift when she goes ahead to the book-release party and she gets General Chiang’s phone number so she can call him in the film’s present and tell him his wife’s dying words – which prevents the Human-Alien War. <br />
<br />
Still, still, if we go with BA, Louise also gets to use her new talent to shift into the PAST to answer her daughter’s question: “Zero-sum game.” She is also able to shift into the past and tell her husband that she knows Hannah is going to die prematurely. “I told him something he wasn’t ready to hear.” Also, also, alien time-shift vibes seem to have affected Hannah who draws the picture of Mommy and Daddy with the caged bird – which will happen in the future – which suggests that Ian – or a different scientist guy – is Hannah’s father.<br />
<br />
Of course, it at first SEEMS clear that Ian is not Hannah’s father – he’s the father of a second child - because when Ian and Louise meet they don’t ACT LIKE they know each other, and references are made to Louise’s life BA as though he was not part of it: “I didn’t know you were married,” says Ian. “I just realized why my husband left me,” says Louise. But I think the filmmakers are being coy here. I think they are throwing in more ambiguity on top of the film’s mind-bending sci-fi premise – if you go total immersion with heptapodese, you will be able to time shift - because –<br />
<br />
if we accept that Ian is not Hannah’s father BA, then why the hell does he say – in the scene in which Ian and Louise watch the alien shell disintegrate and then embrace – “Do you want to make a baby?” Wow, this is pretty familiar! Sounds more like something a formerly estranged ex-husband might say to his ex-wife after a bonding experience. This does not sound like what a guy would say to a woman before he’s even gone out on a date! They haven’t even kissed yet! Also, when they embrace, Louise says, “I forgot how good it felt to hold you.” Did I hear this wrong? Accepting Ian as Hannah’s father BA does not rob the film of its question regarding "would you still have your child if you knew she was going to die prematurely." AA, Ian and Louise may still have to face this dilemma.<br />
<br />
None of this discussion is meant as criticism of the film. I love it. As a teacher of ESL, I loved their efforts to find a way to comprehend alien speakers and make communication as easy as possible. I love that the “weapon” is language! But I feel there are some loose ends – which I hope are not loose ends but intentional elements of ambiguity and paradox – because ambiguity and paradox are what the film is about in many ways.<br />
Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-2610899480352477032016-08-23T14:25:00.000-04:002016-08-25T22:22:03.066-04:00Ben-Hur for Dummies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgooDbLmtN1NTDU8Do2lh2BnJNQ6SvokwgAjnfDNzW040FrGLP6h2m6A-tVt_0FohBBparc8cwsGM-V3qdsngT3oEk-lTA_OFdCHILt6-8QVEOISrQvKWmq_uhU_WiUxR_UzGUG2WS-qFOp/s1600/IMG_1694.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgooDbLmtN1NTDU8Do2lh2BnJNQ6SvokwgAjnfDNzW040FrGLP6h2m6A-tVt_0FohBBparc8cwsGM-V3qdsngT3oEk-lTA_OFdCHILt6-8QVEOISrQvKWmq_uhU_WiUxR_UzGUG2WS-qFOp/s400/IMG_1694.JPG" width="400" height="300" /></a></div><br />
I would confidently wager money that the new <i>Ben-Hur</i> contains a greater percentage of dialogue for its little-over-an-hour running time than the 1959er has for its plus-three-hour length. That is one of this film's many downfalls. All that talk slows down the action as the film spends more time telling than showing. Hell, even Jesus talks, whereas, in the William Wyler film Jesus says nothing, we never see his face, and the result is more mystery. On top of that, the film opens with one of the worst usages of voiceover narration I've experienced in a long time as Morgan Freeman explains things about the Roman Empire that most viewers could intuit as well as backstory about the relationship between Ben-Hur and his Roman friend, Messala, that the film should be showing us through action.<br />
<br />
I enjoyed the new film's authentic locations and some of its reinventions. For the most part, however, the twists, indeed, the contortions, made to the classic plot line, steered by Christian producers going for a one hundred percent feel-good story, rob the film of drama and any sort of visceral seriousness.<br />
<br />
SPOILERS - The Changes:<br />
<br />
Morgan Freeman narrates.<br />
<br />
The tile does not fall - an element that is integral and thematic to the story. The arriving governor is not injured. B-H is not condemned for a fateful accident!<br />
<br />
Messala is a conflicted character who feels forced to condemn B-H. He is not the wonderfully corrupted Messala played by Stephen Boyd.<br />
<br />
Quintus Arrius harangues the rowers and dies in the battle. B-H does not save him so that Quintus can adopt him, get him pardoned, and make him a wealthy man of power who is posed to seek his vengeance Count of Monte Cristo-style.<br />
<br />
The leper story is not developed. We just learn that mother and daughter are incarcerated somewhere - looks like they have been lying on a cot for seven years - and it's not clear what disease they have. Very rapidly and without any drama, they are cured by a trickle of rainwater coming through the roof and the Sheik (Freeman) buys their freedom. "I'll take them."<br />
<br />
Jesus talks and appears more - but his death is less visceral.<br />
<br />
Interesting, the film includes a scene in the garden where Jesus is betrayed - and this is in the novel - but B-H is not present, running from the Romans, as he does in the novel.<br />
<br />
And, most disappointingly, B-H and M forgive each other, and M does not die - though he loses a leg. It's all a big happy, hugging family at the end, traveling along with Freeman's caravan. And M rides off into the sunset with B-H - and what's this? Indeed, M has grown a new leg. Miracle!<br />
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Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-29580385528445016762016-07-26T09:07:00.002-04:002016-07-26T11:25:33.073-04:00Ben-Hur - The Classics Illustrated Comic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-SLw9zFUtqprJ1J7Rg2uSaM-WYur7f6cPO_M2awLRkTs57zSz0yL_YsCGnuO40iftEaOR2TGBxLYsbDNOCEt1VznqPdvht6rgFgfi93I_AQQQt4gVm97y28qN9386AsNzZ47_jPPyYKL2/s1600/IMG_2165.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-SLw9zFUtqprJ1J7Rg2uSaM-WYur7f6cPO_M2awLRkTs57zSz0yL_YsCGnuO40iftEaOR2TGBxLYsbDNOCEt1VznqPdvht6rgFgfi93I_AQQQt4gVm97y28qN9386AsNzZ47_jPPyYKL2/s320/IMG_2165.JPG" width="205" height="320" /></a></div><br />
This Classics Illustrated version of the novel, published in 1958, includes all the iconic moments. It all starts with that darn tile falling. "That tile is still falling," Esther says in the 59er movie. Caused a lot of problems! <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4omGESbVIhZPzSxA-hraCGg1ohYi0tF0mUCRxqTNt6aBk5NlKrB9uo-IfuR8Y82NznWT5sxmKfOnU-I3dxP4s8SYCGQiVP4TL3KSEkoMsQFJo4W3UaW73pKGVP-eLnkUASyxWFV5Unn6k/s1600/IMG_2166.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4omGESbVIhZPzSxA-hraCGg1ohYi0tF0mUCRxqTNt6aBk5NlKrB9uo-IfuR8Y82NznWT5sxmKfOnU-I3dxP4s8SYCGQiVP4TL3KSEkoMsQFJo4W3UaW73pKGVP-eLnkUASyxWFV5Unn6k/s320/IMG_2166.JPG" width="320" height="218" /></a></div><br />
For not fixing his roof, gets Ben-Hur sent off to row with the slaves in a Roman galley. "Ramming speed!" "Your eyes are full of hate, forty-one!" Here is a curious case of a blatant anachronism (Romans didn't use galley slaves - what were you thinking, Lew?) turning into an iconic episode in the novel as well as in the film versions.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirwtN5nofrSqq9I5oCrm_eIzEmxGDuj019TljLzXmolStMrpL8yVVLYavOFBu4AraH7gmArWGO9IUE1bBbnsQhIRpTHYj3qZY3-DKo1Fc02vudx3QsjxHi0O6jpKC7BfQAYkp2gi2-l5oP/s1600/IMG_2169.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirwtN5nofrSqq9I5oCrm_eIzEmxGDuj019TljLzXmolStMrpL8yVVLYavOFBu4AraH7gmArWGO9IUE1bBbnsQhIRpTHYj3qZY3-DKo1Fc02vudx3QsjxHi0O6jpKC7BfQAYkp2gi2-l5oP/s320/IMG_2169.JPG" width="320" height="242" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBHgUdgOZSMF5SjVrMjAUWVEd2MrpZ-apbRKYx0YN2uAV-5KPZtk7gCz24aSsAE2Lr3B_-S1IHt7B0dLQ1Cb0GytwFhyj5SjPWM6_qcdMX8rG-X3mUq2q54GndeakkukczU_azVRHQ_5Qk/s1600/IMG_2168.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBHgUdgOZSMF5SjVrMjAUWVEd2MrpZ-apbRKYx0YN2uAV-5KPZtk7gCz24aSsAE2Lr3B_-S1IHt7B0dLQ1Cb0GytwFhyj5SjPWM6_qcdMX8rG-X3mUq2q54GndeakkukczU_azVRHQ_5Qk/s320/IMG_2168.JPG" width="320" height="224" /></a></div><br />
Then there's Jesus, looking like he belongs in a Christian fundamentalist brochure. He gives Ben-Hur that symbolic drink of water that Ben-Hur will attempt to repay at the end of the story. As Ben-Hur's conflicts play out, Jesus is headed toward his fated climax. Ben-Hur's life parallels that of Jesus. Both are the same age. While Ben-Hur seeks vengeance, Jesus preaches forgiveness.<br />
<br />
The 59er film does a great job of presenting Jesus without showing his face. His face - that subdues a Roman soldier going to interrupt Ben-Hur's refreshing drink - are left to our imagination. Unfortunately, the mini-series casts as Jesus someone who looks like Graham Chapman in <i>Life of Brian</i>. The mini-series downplays the drama of the Crucifixion and the miracle while the 59er goes for visual spectacle, blood, and a tumultuous storm and earthquake during the culminating miracle.<br />
<br />
Influenced by Gibbon's <i>The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire</i>, all things Roman constituted an ongoing fad throughout the Victorian Era. Lew Wallace's novel appealed to that fad, and readers must have been thrilled with his description of the chariot race, the action scene that would epitomize the films. The Classics Illustrated Comic images evoke the speed and violence of that scene.<br />
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The comic is not a movie spin-off. It is all about the novel. As do all Classics Illustrated editions, it ends with the following plug:" Now that you have read the Classics Illustrated edition, don't miss the added enjoyment of reading the original, obtainable at your school or public library."<br />
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Indeed, as a boy, I did just that. It took patience getting through Wallace's detailed travelogue-style commentary and his descriptions of architecture and the culture of ancient Rome and the Hold Land, but the central conflict is always compelling. Now wonder <i>Ben-Hur</i> has been made into a spectacular stage play, a feature silent film, a sound film that won eleven Oscars, a British mini-series, and now an epic remake! It's a great story that explores the themes of vengeance, hope, forgiveness, and the importance of family.<br />
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Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-3577127111209694772016-07-25T11:04:00.001-04:002016-07-26T11:27:44.545-04:00Ben-Hur (2010) - The British Mini-series<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEi2LtM04c7z7iMzf4z949GyqZJZJ6Wf4eWmn074vSr2iDNnSxd89D49gSf4RcgIlJStIXVvnuZxaLXhsd8BrR82C4ojYyr4uN1q9cq_kSCZXpaXIu46-xx7onbuhXz4Wr8AJFszAT11ww/s1600/images-5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEi2LtM04c7z7iMzf4z949GyqZJZJ6Wf4eWmn074vSr2iDNnSxd89D49gSf4RcgIlJStIXVvnuZxaLXhsd8BrR82C4ojYyr4uN1q9cq_kSCZXpaXIu46-xx7onbuhXz4Wr8AJFszAT11ww/s320/images-5.jpeg" width="320" height="175" /></a></div><br />
In anticipation of the August 19 release of the "re-imagining" of <i>Ben-Hur</i>, directed by Timur Babmembetov, my personal <i>Ben-Hur</i>-o-thon continues.<br />
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Watch the 2010 British mini-series version of the story! It's excellent and builds to an emotional finale. While it doesn't have the epic, broad scope of the 59er, this is an admirable, well-written, well-performed rendition whose big advantage is realistic location shots in the ksars and old buildings of Morocco. With more than three hours to work with, the mini-series builds in some re-interpretation of the story - Messala's father is a prick who pushes Messala in a power drive for the governorship of Judea - Quintus Arrius kills himself - Ben-Hur sleeps with a concubine - Ben-Hur's mother and sister do not have contagious leprosy; they just don't want Ben to see them like this. As often happens, however, the casting is largely Caucasian; Ben, Esther, and Jesus look as Jewish as Donald Trump. Sheik Ilderim, however, is played by a real Arab!<br />
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As for the classic action, the sea battle is done small-scale with three pirate ships pursuing Quintus Arrius's ship, but the encounter and sinking are gripping enough with dark lighting disguising the obvious CGI. The chariot race is realistically done without CGI - billed in the story as a small-scale affair appropriate to Judea - "the arm pit" of the Roman world. Visually, with its Moroccan setting and set decoration, it is very colorful.<br />
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<i>Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ</i> was written by General Lew Wallace. It was published in 1880 and it became a bestseller, selling more copies than <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i>.<br />
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General Lew Wallace fought in the Union army during the Civil War. He flubbed things up at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862 by taking his division the long way around the barn and arriving late at the battlefield. In 1864, he redeemed himself at the Battle of Monocacy, near Frederick, Maryland, when he fought a successful delaying action against Confederate forces threatening Washington. After the war he led the commission that investigated the assassination of Lincoln and he presided over the war crimes trial of Henry Wirz, commandant of notorious Andersonville Prison Camp in Georgia.<br />
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His popular novel was adapted and produced as a stage play first presented in 1899. The spectacular London version was first performed in 1902. Both extravagant productions included hundreds of cast members, a sinking slave ship, and a chariot race with real horses, chariots on a treadmill, and a rotating backdrop to create the illusion of speed. <br />
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When I directed drama with middle and high school students, I toyed with the idea for a <i>Ben-Hur</i> stage adaptation. Wish I had done it.<br />
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<a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HVjKOVbl01o">This hilarious ad announcing a broadcast of <i>Ben-Hur,</i> on Turner Classic Movies is a wonderful parody of the 1959 film. At the same time, it shows how much fun a stage production could have been.</a><br />
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Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-49942472745765696292016-07-09T10:26:00.001-04:002016-07-09T22:34:32.494-04:00Ben-Hur (2016) Versus Ben-Hur (1959) - Wanna Bet?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfXDt_Ny6xdNS292qMozA0DEiSOCp3lMa6rdr4ocivdkxyTDVXeOIea_ruaK18vPEPe3TZVoIhedj8ozEdI1rkJyZhYzgI3n1zMKeTfUV0EKWYtvkyeRAsVv4wCAW2wUNTO_WEYyUfjpMH/s1600/th.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfXDt_Ny6xdNS292qMozA0DEiSOCp3lMa6rdr4ocivdkxyTDVXeOIea_ruaK18vPEPe3TZVoIhedj8ozEdI1rkJyZhYzgI3n1zMKeTfUV0EKWYtvkyeRAsVv4wCAW2wUNTO_WEYyUfjpMH/s400/th.jpeg" width="400" height="250" /></a></div><br />
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It was probably an urban legend, but the story goes like this. During the lengthy run of the 1959 hit film <i>Ben-Hur</i> in San Francisco, a Market Street wino used to hang out in front of the box office and take bets on the chariot race. I have a feeling he put his money on Messala - otherwise, who would take him up on the bet? I remember, back in 1960 as an eight-year-old lad who had been wowed by this impressive epic film, rather admiring the guy's fervent optimism and his feeling that the magic of film might work a wonder. Obviously, he knew Ben-Hur won the laurel wreath, but perhaps he believed that Messala might pull ahead and win in one magical moment. <br />
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As for which version of the film will win the laurel wreath, my fondness for the 1959 version of <i>Ben-Hur</i> does not mean I will be bitter or disappointed if Timur Bekmambetov's "re-imagining" is better than the previous version. I just want it to be a great movie - and I am behind it all the way. The 1959er was the first significant movie to open my eyes to the expansive magic of film. After a very poor spring and summer movie season this year, I yearn for a film that can put the "wow" back into moviegoing. (If a new <i>Ben-Hur</i> can't do that, nothing can.)<br />
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As a frequent moviegoer I end up seeing the trailers for the big superhero movies so many times I try to avoid them. Oddly, I have only seen the trailer for <i>Ben-Hur</i> once in the theater. Although I've only allowed myself glimpses of the preview, I must say it looks good. Admittedly, the 1959er starts out too slowly. For the new one, I see, they have added some land-battle scenes, most likely flashbacks to Messala's days as a budding centurion expanding the Roman Empire. Nevertheless, 1959er's excellent screenplay does the same thing as battle flashbacks, as when Messala talks about conquering Libya:<br />
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"A tremendous campaign. We met their armies on the coast, and after two days of fighting they fled. Then we marched on their capital. Barbaric city, but fascinating, or it was till we destroyed it. (Dramatic pause before the blunt punchline.) Now it's nothing but ashes." (I love it when this stark ending to his tale puts a damper on his luncheon with the Hurs.)<br />
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I look forward to what the "re-imagining" will do with the new version. I had always wished the 1959er had included a flashback to the developing relationship between the younger Ben-Hur and Messala. Esther makes a reference to the time the boys went out lion hunting and Messala saved Ben's life. A scene like this would have pumped up the beginning of the film. The new version has a prime opportunity to include the lion hunt! Hope it does! That would be much more interesting than a battle flashback.<br />
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Finally, as I've said, the new film looks good, and I know it will have lots of action. Here's hoping the chariot race is not extended into CGI boredom. Listening to the trailer, it is clear that the 59er is a couple of lengths ahead of the 2016er in the writing department. When galley admiral Quintus Arrius harangues the rowers, he talks flatly about the ship being like a body and the rowers being its blood. Nothing can top, "Your eyes are full of hate, 41. That's good. Hate keeps a man alive. We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well and live." Indeed, there are many memorable lines that the 2016er will not be able to top. "What do you think you see? The smashed body of a wretched animal." Yes, the Heston Hur only features two major action scenes, but it has Messala's death scene - one of the most gruesome death scenes in cinema.<br />
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We shall see. I hope to see the new <i>Ben-Hur</i> at Downtown Disney in Anaheim on the morning of August 16 when I will be thinking of the lines, "This is the day, Judah. It's between us now." Indeed, on that morning, it will be between the two films, but I don't care which comes in first. I have a feeling I'm safe putting my money on the 59er, but I am open to being pleasantly surprised, and I look forward to any original elements that Bekmambetov might include.<br />
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For a lengthy discussion of the look of <i>Ben-Hur</i> I invite you to check out <a href="http://hokahey-littleworlds.blogspot.com/2009/03/beauty-of-ben-hur-50th-anniversary.html"> my older article</a> posted for the 50th anniversary of the film.Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-44866731395075783502015-01-06T09:39:00.001-05:002015-01-06T09:39:29.516-05:00We've Moved!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKfEwUVFIOLo-GOI2oZDKbvEG-XONoV8Y-0yXN422HmtaGTlYuNdSfo3PAEMmbUcRnCJhSV9SCcFV3hJIKJmt-VGZHrNjF4g7td-eHjxVAMC6tQLzAlIPjFPx9aM6SOps6LoMgep-9ubga/s1600/The-Grapes-of-Wrath-7757_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKfEwUVFIOLo-GOI2oZDKbvEG-XONoV8Y-0yXN422HmtaGTlYuNdSfo3PAEMmbUcRnCJhSV9SCcFV3hJIKJmt-VGZHrNjF4g7td-eHjxVAMC6tQLzAlIPjFPx9aM6SOps6LoMgep-9ubga/s400/The-Grapes-of-Wrath-7757_4.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I have moved, for the most part, to <a href="http://letterboxd.com/rbellamy/">letterboxd.com</a> where I will comment on ALL the movies I see each year. I may post longer reviews here as the spirit moves, but for the most part you can find me there.Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-35751238016695675502014-12-31T21:28:00.000-05:002014-12-31T21:28:06.603-05:00My Year at the Movies - 2014Happy New Year!<br />
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Here is a chronological list of the 2014 movies I saw in theaters this past year. My top ten favorites of the year are accompanied by images.<br />
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<i>Jack Ryan<br />
The Invisible Woman<br />
The Monuments Men<br />
Winter’s Tale<br />
Pompeii<br />
Non-Stop<br />
300: Rise of an Empire<br />
Need for Speed<br />
Divergent</i><br />
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<i>Noah</i><br />
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I enjoyed this surreal, sci-fi rendition of the Biblical story of Noah and the flood. Russell Crowe stands out as an Ahab-like captain of the Ark.<br />
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<i>The Grand Budapest Hotel</i><br />
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Although I was not always totally engaged by this film, I have to say that this is without a doubt the most meticulously conceived film of the year. Some of the sets are so full of color and detail you wish for the camera to linger longer - or you wish for the characters to return to that set but they don't. Though some parts work better than others, this film is always visually arresting.<br />
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<i>Captain America: The Winter Soldier<br />
Transcendence<br />
Bears</i><br />
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<i>Under the Skin</i><br />
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I’ve never seen anything like this movie. The surrealistic depictions of what the “alien” does with her victims is bizarre. The shots of Scotland are awe-inspiring. The film hits you in the gut in a number of places, and Johansson is perfect for the role.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7LPYWMNvY3NloNZyv0xHIEIbimTbQNT4yzS7we3bS5KXSCWSJKeiILP0CsqaeZ062qLzihnRjWUPvdTZQ2yzsawy0W8sa6r-kYDmu58AanU-95eZOiHRfukp0WWCtLbfggj9_W7_f2-gv/s1600/under+skin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7LPYWMNvY3NloNZyv0xHIEIbimTbQNT4yzS7we3bS5KXSCWSJKeiILP0CsqaeZ062qLzihnRjWUPvdTZQ2yzsawy0W8sa6r-kYDmu58AanU-95eZOiHRfukp0WWCtLbfggj9_W7_f2-gv/s400/under+skin.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<i>Spider Man 2<br />
Godzilla<br />
X-Men: Days of Future Past<br />
Million Dollar Arm<br />
Maleficent</i><br />
<br />
<i>Edge of Tomorrow</i><br />
<br />
I saw this a number of times at the movies, and I’ve watched it multiple times on DVD. Clever story, great editing, and an excellent Cruise performance as he mixes humor with serious acting. The year's most watchable movie full of humor and action.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsHOqytsV79ZZ4-9HQxRhyphenhyphenuCrq3gjzxnl0LDXfe6z6Gsdn5iU6VGcRvowiRCFPjDzZ30Bs1WxlxKosn6hAjYOs0csLkDSNHWXxK_Kmh5UfvF5GvkpvmYwR96wCiHuczy2OUMudpOEeg0sY/s1600/edge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsHOqytsV79ZZ4-9HQxRhyphenhyphenuCrq3gjzxnl0LDXfe6z6Gsdn5iU6VGcRvowiRCFPjDzZ30Bs1WxlxKosn6hAjYOs0csLkDSNHWXxK_Kmh5UfvF5GvkpvmYwR96wCiHuczy2OUMudpOEeg0sY/s400/edge.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<i>The Fault in Our Stars<br />
How to Train Your Dragon 2<br />
The Rover<br />
The Immigrant<br />
22 Jump Street<br />
Transformers: Age of Extinction<br />
Dawn of the Apes<br />
Planes: Fire and Rescue</i><br />
<br />
<i>Lucy</i><br />
<br />
Johansson strikes again in this violent but wildly bizarre action film that's basically about Scarlett Johansson turning into the Internet. At first you think that Lucy will just be this vastly intelligent and superior killing machine. Then the film takes Lucy where no action heroine has gone before.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBrJRmLurRWSSY8S8VfNmREQzS_qoE-kmFB-m5SHeUBVscG9vAy5vMZpJdkKBCJOLW_8Jd8-mvnydpTUiN7RB6ljDJ2bQDFvVaCAdKwMHh3eyZ8YkQ5Qk4j3C7RpEoFHGc3eeEt74Y0XEr/s1600/lucy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBrJRmLurRWSSY8S8VfNmREQzS_qoE-kmFB-m5SHeUBVscG9vAy5vMZpJdkKBCJOLW_8Jd8-mvnydpTUiN7RB6ljDJ2bQDFvVaCAdKwMHh3eyZ8YkQ5Qk4j3C7RpEoFHGc3eeEt74Y0XEr/s400/lucy.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<i>The Giver<br />
If I Stay</i><br />
<br />
<i>Boyhood</i><br />
<br />
Real moments follow stilted moments and make this film worth watching. More than a film, it is a visual experiment that chronicles the real growth of a real boy throughout his ups and downs.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNXP_oPZOpwB5nZFfwvuO0c0tnKoC1YUWFSFAAXNqKX3CvqMYLu4LzeGCigf8Ggc2uyC44Y3Om5HGWEGEtc7jz5tQWcTU68QsLJiJgiCgu2Izz3DDn_seOSKZwbQRdifOuLOMCxRspMYA/s1600/boyhood_still.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNXP_oPZOpwB5nZFfwvuO0c0tnKoC1YUWFSFAAXNqKX3CvqMYLu4LzeGCigf8Ggc2uyC44Y3Om5HGWEGEtc7jz5tQWcTU68QsLJiJgiCgu2Izz3DDn_seOSKZwbQRdifOuLOMCxRspMYA/s400/boyhood_still.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<i>Guardians of the Galaxy</i><br />
<br />
This engaging film takes tropes from <i>Star Wars</i> and has a lot of fun with them. One of the most delightfully entertaining films of the year.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc7VQMK5BN9drFLHL7CKbG8QkNVz_uwpUQ5O28Xt8hslSx702K-yp3KscJpqzqWsHPP9L9P12rg40H1WRrvQbJZdGbsKEfvFM9z4U-eaSdcT4Bp-lht-PMGXQciPzdmbaqACc_JFAPAMrZ/s1600/guardians-galaxy-movie-preview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc7VQMK5BN9drFLHL7CKbG8QkNVz_uwpUQ5O28Xt8hslSx702K-yp3KscJpqzqWsHPP9L9P12rg40H1WRrvQbJZdGbsKEfvFM9z4U-eaSdcT4Bp-lht-PMGXQciPzdmbaqACc_JFAPAMrZ/s400/guardians-galaxy-movie-preview.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<i>The November Man<br />
A Walk Among the Tombstones<br />
The Maze Runner<br />
The Equalizer<br />
Gone Girl<br />
The Boxtrolls<br />
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day<br />
The Judge</i><br />
<br />
<i>Fury</i><br />
<br />
This grim depiction of the last year on the western front in World War II features a thrilling tank duel and a solid performance by Brad Pitt and even an excellent supporting performance by Shia LaBeouf<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF40cGBY5knvTSB7TegkhNkSExuVsDVUawCYsYhWTrwBTMimFduehm0_JynJwPNAEdffaxF7sLKdY03KmovemOK1tQJYgIGiOTJtw07fIgCZ1ZF2lFtq5lmWGy0os4KtHvp1S-5iiyRb1F/s1600/fury.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF40cGBY5knvTSB7TegkhNkSExuVsDVUawCYsYhWTrwBTMimFduehm0_JynJwPNAEdffaxF7sLKdY03KmovemOK1tQJYgIGiOTJtw07fIgCZ1ZF2lFtq5lmWGy0os4KtHvp1S-5iiyRb1F/s400/fury.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<i>Nightcrawler</i><br />
<br />
This creepy, uncomfortable, suspenseful film features an amazing performance by Jake Gyllenhaal.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1C8wU3TfTF6NKfv8s57EJm4nYv0YU8omBtDz_E-nOUDidbcGu2VwGgZWTzhc8oQ-3wk6CIHx986ruoVqnO9fOg3TsgVxVL7LEdeFKQf3f_z38xPUkMU2E0YKE96B5PBQZbjjk8rtw75ur/s1600/Nightcrawler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1C8wU3TfTF6NKfv8s57EJm4nYv0YU8omBtDz_E-nOUDidbcGu2VwGgZWTzhc8oQ-3wk6CIHx986ruoVqnO9fOg3TsgVxVL7LEdeFKQf3f_z38xPUkMU2E0YKE96B5PBQZbjjk8rtw75ur/s400/Nightcrawler.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<i>Interstellar</i><br />
<br />
I saw this film six times at the movies. This doesn’t mean that it’s flawless. It means that I think it’s the best movie of the year for its epic vision, its transporting visuals, and the, excellent performances by Matthew McConaughey and Jessica Chastain.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUybwi4GLjqKLk8o8PPi15euu5O2BuqKaI0RyzidBZopHo4Q1QJf8ZmqGU1Nm0_1sg2c18zyfXp6p6BG2t0RivIeeDUKn7M_rKM7nXZHtTrF1exLrMUN-wDvW3dRd38fNyKvVNG8cB5-cH/s1600/interstellar.black_.hole_.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUybwi4GLjqKLk8o8PPi15euu5O2BuqKaI0RyzidBZopHo4Q1QJf8ZmqGU1Nm0_1sg2c18zyfXp6p6BG2t0RivIeeDUKn7M_rKM7nXZHtTrF1exLrMUN-wDvW3dRd38fNyKvVNG8cB5-cH/s400/interstellar.black_.hole_.png" /></a></div><br />
<i>Birdman<br />
Big Hero 6<br />
Rosewater<br />
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 <br />
The Theory of Everything<br />
Exodus: Gods and Kings<br />
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies<br />
Wild<br />
Annie<br />
Unbroken<br />
Night at the Museum: The Secret of the Tomb<br />
Big Eyes<br />
Into the Woods</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-12154858105279329162014-11-17T11:27:00.000-05:002014-11-17T11:27:46.180-05:00Space Odyssey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP_1Gid3vpT0ObqctHSP7etR8EXHYXW1lUEM-V6SOhyjDJ7KN41GiPiLPEAO-6faIm7BrvVw99pVieBDeT-rHe4Nm3i4boV5rMTNE_Nt2pnmrA749H8gZcl6E8ChlK3j9dKBo0_AQNHYuR/s1600/Blogathon+Banner+7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP_1Gid3vpT0ObqctHSP7etR8EXHYXW1lUEM-V6SOhyjDJ7KN41GiPiLPEAO-6faIm7BrvVw99pVieBDeT-rHe4Nm3i4boV5rMTNE_Nt2pnmrA749H8gZcl6E8ChlK3j9dKBo0_AQNHYuR/s400/Blogathon+Banner+7.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Here is my contribution to the <a href="http://hitchcocksworld.blogspot.ca/2014/10/voyage-to-stars-blogathon.html">Voyage to the Stars Blogathon</a>, John Hitchcock's very imaginative blog challenge inspired by the recent release of Nolan's <i>Interstellar</i>. <br />
<br />
Here is my crew for my mission:<br />
<br />
COMMANDER: <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAw3MQ7WELetC8RZ8y6XDwTCTk_ABheYYzsS9m3ddqEEvr0GpPEF9cLi5HOeA1d0sVYT18uZ-21Jdr56YtTjRgNyA4XRbqjf9qiz1C-SEpUD8aESKoQ6coHLM9ks1hKZsIwAChQOHx_M8h/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAw3MQ7WELetC8RZ8y6XDwTCTk_ABheYYzsS9m3ddqEEvr0GpPEF9cLi5HOeA1d0sVYT18uZ-21Jdr56YtTjRgNyA4XRbqjf9qiz1C-SEpUD8aESKoQ6coHLM9ks1hKZsIwAChQOHx_M8h/s400/images.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
Janek - Idris Elba - <i>Prometheus</i> (2012)<br />
<br />
He's the commander with a commanding presence but he still knows the importance of a sense of humor. "Try not to bugger each other." "Are you a robot?" Also, with his Christmas tree and vintage accordion, he's got character.<br />
<br />
PILOT:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiocZhXgde2fCKtMkBXGYMl_KBWbo4FO8_Eutio-yd4JP8BfkjA21_coy9QG1-LVSeyMXWzh6D3k5uiV9QA3J7d65T901woEDmuGnsoarYVRb6u5Uup5vkJJthyphenhyphenApuHa9jHh5F-GtEAOnrN/s1600/images-5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiocZhXgde2fCKtMkBXGYMl_KBWbo4FO8_Eutio-yd4JP8BfkjA21_coy9QG1-LVSeyMXWzh6D3k5uiV9QA3J7d65T901woEDmuGnsoarYVRb6u5Uup5vkJJthyphenhyphenApuHa9jHh5F-GtEAOnrN/s400/images-5.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
Victoria - Andrea Riseborough - <i>Oblvion</i> (2013)<br />
<br />
She will make our crew "a perfect team"! She's attractive and very capable, in high heels or spacesuit.<br />
<br />
NAVIGATOR:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUEnNHjVYIPB7bRauXK8_lg1Fhg8Ly9067CJshRQU1H6gejN0A8IFPSB7YKorUfrg2n8h9I0OJGyH1ATNucOcCse2bTslFzocq58KKK9_x0zvqr8DOaQo-8KOIfnCAOG_ynf6j-2ln8er0/s1600/images-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUEnNHjVYIPB7bRauXK8_lg1Fhg8Ly9067CJshRQU1H6gejN0A8IFPSB7YKorUfrg2n8h9I0OJGyH1ATNucOcCse2bTslFzocq58KKK9_x0zvqr8DOaQo-8KOIfnCAOG_ynf6j-2ln8er0/s400/images-1.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
Penny Robinson - Angela Cartwright - <i>Lost in Space</i> (1965 - 1967)<br />
<br />
Well, she's classic, and she's had a lot of experience dealing with different planets, dimensions, aliens, robots, and weird doctors.<br />
<br />
SCIENCE OFFICER:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8iPY0ileC8VohyphenhyphenCQDYkwj7QEIhfOpdekayJBTHaohzBjOtUyOz5Fv3TFGVtSlpNlFeNOMtl_lOqZ1dVAvGYuFZPbb1DuO97FK4GifbWXNBkbitEehRAVz5dRQba9HU5-Vt9sAFNQhRHTX/s1600/images-4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8iPY0ileC8VohyphenhyphenCQDYkwj7QEIhfOpdekayJBTHaohzBjOtUyOz5Fv3TFGVtSlpNlFeNOMtl_lOqZ1dVAvGYuFZPbb1DuO97FK4GifbWXNBkbitEehRAVz5dRQba9HU5-Vt9sAFNQhRHTX/s400/images-4.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
Nadia - Antje Traue - <i>Pandorum</i> (2009)<br />
<br />
She will be able kick mutant or alien butt if we get attacked, but she still looks sexy when she's covered with grime. She can keep plants and meal worms alive under adverse conditons.<br />
<br />
MEDIC: <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip3EFEYUgOm7qaB9TOTQ813vaTKa8xP1n5cJO6BuPlToPzvLpXXZE_aOZfUVfiCXBM-aGIMqqiVYBhfPqS2_Yx5hDpRP5JJLhfS8A4nqZMX2XhbqeZ1ba77K914LsfSthiWandqM8hwoIt/s1600/images-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip3EFEYUgOm7qaB9TOTQ813vaTKa8xP1n5cJO6BuPlToPzvLpXXZE_aOZfUVfiCXBM-aGIMqqiVYBhfPqS2_Yx5hDpRP5JJLhfS8A4nqZMX2XhbqeZ1ba77K914LsfSthiWandqM8hwoIt/s400/images-2.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
Cassie - Rose Byrne - <i>Sunshine</i> (2007)<br />
<br />
She has that sensitive bedside manner that will soothe us through the long voyage, and she's not likely to vote anyone off the spacecraft if supplies run low.<br />
<br />
ENGINEER: <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6lxPu3azjLApgBCK2jDxd0rBNOHip9cslcpOpaQECSPbSLsAltLzj5yR5zzeV0B4tw9RfsbBtmxkvqIinEWhyfoxst74GwlJGrxTPrDGmJJTdmiIycpJG1sspNCW3JAcnNJ247fWGWMwV/s1600/images-3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6lxPu3azjLApgBCK2jDxd0rBNOHip9cslcpOpaQECSPbSLsAltLzj5yR5zzeV0B4tw9RfsbBtmxkvqIinEWhyfoxst74GwlJGrxTPrDGmJJTdmiIycpJG1sspNCW3JAcnNJ247fWGWMwV/s400/images-3.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
Dr. Josh Keyes - Aaron Eckhart - <i>The Core</i> (2003)<br />
<br />
He can fix anything, solve any scientific conundrum, and he can figure his way out of an inner-spaceship sunk at the bottom of the sea.<br />
<br />
MISSION CONTROLLER: <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd2pk1rmEuAUmYFXiMFOjf7Af6nXQpQtAf-LyKVC0rPC-CqbGi6PrN8SCcmvESuo6XSUIH4j2vYld3TgQYGNzvFznlwZ-ghVt-PYGE9Bwu3eJRJOCXnYh-ccoqlbq-akTQvLvEzRuwQRKI/s1600/images-6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd2pk1rmEuAUmYFXiMFOjf7Af6nXQpQtAf-LyKVC0rPC-CqbGi6PrN8SCcmvESuo6XSUIH4j2vYld3TgQYGNzvFznlwZ-ghVt-PYGE9Bwu3eJRJOCXnYh-ccoqlbq-akTQvLvEzRuwQRKI/s400/images-6.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
HAL 9000 from <i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i> (1968)<br />
<br />
Re-programmed, he has promised to be good. Risky, I know, but his voice will keep us calm in an emergency, and he's really smart!<br />
<br />
PLAN OF ACTION:<br />
<br />
Only light travels at the speed of light. Okay, so ship and crew have been transformed into beams of light although from the point of view of the travelers, fellow astronauts and ship are solid entities. How will we do this? No need to explain. This is science fiction.<br />
<br />
Traveling at the speed of light, we can go far, where no man or woman has gone before. The mission is to find extraterrestrial life. Half the crew members believe they will find nothing; we are alone! The other half disagrees. We shall see!<br />
<br />
STATUS REPORT:<br />
<br />
We originally thought a 3 to 3 ratio of male to female passengers was essential. Then we decided the more sharp female thinkers the better. In order to defray possible partnering conflicts, we found women who would be more than happy to pair up and go in for a threesome with one of the two male crew members. Use you imagination as to who will trio up with whom.<br />
Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-28100720990196196282014-11-08T10:09:00.001-05:002014-11-08T15:50:46.337-05:00Leap of Faith: Interstellar<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh2YGoD29zwEeTNdtgEML0dP2YaKHrPW9fiFUNkQmVVwJdYnzcS_TDeoMu2-_IbIyXQ6Dy33KN9UgPBQo2SLVLYt_9Up5iYyPvAB7JoFQdU6didez5gJ4QYKn6K2pe67KhWrY48d58I7Pl/s1600/interstellar-film.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh2YGoD29zwEeTNdtgEML0dP2YaKHrPW9fiFUNkQmVVwJdYnzcS_TDeoMu2-_IbIyXQ6Dy33KN9UgPBQo2SLVLYt_9Up5iYyPvAB7JoFQdU6didez5gJ4QYKn6K2pe67KhWrY48d58I7Pl/s400/interstellar-film.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNmlDU1-c3prlZKcoz8Z-EAEmeLMfcONf8Oopo7IVX3-CyiNOLcW33n-LBaY9SZ_HrNzt6qcs4Www7a7eQPFzoEFlnmM0UDoCeED0ZBbH3VZ6dSuqEXI3LIgOiRcmgKvytvAkmzuyIPLI9/s1600/interstellar+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNmlDU1-c3prlZKcoz8Z-EAEmeLMfcONf8Oopo7IVX3-CyiNOLcW33n-LBaY9SZ_HrNzt6qcs4Www7a7eQPFzoEFlnmM0UDoCeED0ZBbH3VZ6dSuqEXI3LIgOiRcmgKvytvAkmzuyIPLI9/s400/interstellar+2.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I’ll take an epic movie any day, and thank God Christopher Nolan is willing to oblige – especially considering the narrowly envisioned, copycat films released one after the other. <br />
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The thrill of <i>Interstellar</i> is its masterful juxtapositioning of touching, earthbound family drama with mind-blowing space odyssey, its cutting back and forth between hardships at a dilapidated farmhouse in a rural dustbowl and a surrealistic journey into a black hole.<br />
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Thrilling, too, is how the film starts out in the dusty cornfields, with Matthew McConnaughey as Cooper, a farmer struggling, with the help of his father-in-law (John Lithgow) to preserve his crops of corn and raise his son and daughter. The daughter, Murph, as played by Mackenzie Foy, is an example of Nolan’s casting at its best. As a budding math and science genius fascinated by strange piles of dust on the floor, Foy gets your attention in every scene she’s in, and she sure as hell looks like a younger Jessica Chastain who plays the older Murph.<br />
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On the other hand, Matt Damon as a crazed Robinson Crusoe-like character stranded on a frozen planet doesn’t always work out. And what the hell is Topher Grace doing in this film? He does nothing as the unsuitably wimpy partner for the amazing Jessica Chastain who, as the grownup Murph, uses her brain power to solve the story’s physics conundrum while her father uses his courage and instincts to pilot a spacecraft where no film has gone before. Meanwhile, Anne Hathaway is mostly just servicable.<br />
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I will say little else about the plot because the joy for me was seeing <i>Interstellar</i> knowing nothing more than its basic premise – Earth is dying and a mission is sent into space to find a suitable planet to colonize. That the film takes you from a dusty farm to different levels far beyond space and time is what makes it special.<br />
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Though the story might get shaky with stuff that only Stephen Hawking really understands, the film is always lifted up by the performances of McConaughey as the father, and Chastain, as the daughter, separated by light years, but battling together to save the human race. Throw in some dazzling shots of the belittling vastness of space, mix in some space-action tropes, keep taking the story to another surprising level – like the multiple dream levels in Nolan’s <i>Inception</i> - and Nolan thankfully delivers a substantial epic.<br />
Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-87509646513114805062014-11-01T21:41:00.001-04:002014-11-01T21:41:48.034-04:00Up in the Air: Birdman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz1_SqJhm1ydLwmDFHEr4qpEPssTHTSBjLDE07xv3HB62h0Q2dvL-MR2JJyqdcY2a9dnXAMhrESw4ay8Z7R-ZyftPEat0G6ekgnUa7uSGA1huIHw7MdfS1IjmdOfT85TQy-yN5QX1fMRL5/s1600/birdman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz1_SqJhm1ydLwmDFHEr4qpEPssTHTSBjLDE07xv3HB62h0Q2dvL-MR2JJyqdcY2a9dnXAMhrESw4ay8Z7R-ZyftPEat0G6ekgnUa7uSGA1huIHw7MdfS1IjmdOfT85TQy-yN5QX1fMRL5/s400/birdman.jpg" /></a></div><br />
In <i>Birdman or The Unexpected Virture of Ignorance</i> Iñárritu makes nifty commentary about the illusory nature of cinema and stage drama as well as about the power of social media to diminish anyone’s talent – when anyone can be a star on YouTube and any trivial thing can be more popular than legitimate theater. Meanwhile, his following shots down dingy, narrow backstage corridors capture the unseen shabbiness behind the façade of playacting. Raucous, unnerving, sometimes irritating drums accompany the frantic passage down those hallways of Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton), a has-been actor who made a name for himself playing a superhero called Birdman and who is now trying to make an artistic comeback by staging an adaptation of a Raymond Carver story, employing, as an audience draw, an incorrigibly egotistical stage star, played brilliantly by Edward Norton, whose penchant for realism goes to the extent of drinking real alcohol and showing a real erection on stage. Another strong supporting performance comes from Emma Stone as Riggan’s lost, in-and-out-of-rehab daughter, and she gets the credit for one of the best moments in the film when she shows her father the power of that little iPhone screen we all carry or would like to carry. Keaton does a fine job as the desperate, fading performer; like Riggan, Keaton is attempting his own comeback in films these days. Keaton’s Birdman voiceover, in a deep, raspy tone imitating <i>The Dark Knight</i>, is, however, mostly as irritating as the drum score. I like many of the individual parts of this film, but the plummeting, fiery asteroid; the dead, beached jellyfish; the pointed commentary about the world of theater – especially the moment in which Riggan enters the theater in his underwear, just in time to enter his scene through the audience – all of this is meant to be brilliant, sometimes forced to be brilliant, and that’s what makes me feel indifferent about this film, that it’s all so deliberate about saying something without making you feel anything, like all the bits in which Riggan’s Birdman persona intrudes upon his real life with demonstrations of telekinesis and flight that are sometimes startling but ultimately “full of sound and fury,/ Signifying nothing.”Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-64414427126207432302014-10-07T20:28:00.001-04:002014-10-07T20:35:05.766-04:00Three Tries<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEistqesF2a0X2rkUy72RBQ2LW9UeqJc1Ak3j9L0-aSW_704TKZCXsgptMxiEarkEaj_BtCiPEKPc_iz3RfTiWsdDjeuNZqB2mote10iQ-bEsmem8Z3I4UwP-PMISF7zQgda2-sv0mhOBcid/s1600/hr_A_Walk_Among_the_Tombstones_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEistqesF2a0X2rkUy72RBQ2LW9UeqJc1Ak3j9L0-aSW_704TKZCXsgptMxiEarkEaj_BtCiPEKPc_iz3RfTiWsdDjeuNZqB2mote10iQ-bEsmem8Z3I4UwP-PMISF7zQgda2-sv0mhOBcid/s400/hr_A_Walk_Among_the_Tombstones_1.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikibyYHvDNtBMhC4_H4Bj957Td64eBQxD45NjGVt4Mwzs14fH9-7k0fQGi8zId8RpICjhcv3IPxji8-4j1M-IZm7jrVa-K-LxbygDi_fKjhduNXNVWGysClALIrP0wedQdfTMpCCBX3CdD/s1600/Denzel-Washington-and-Chloe%CC%88-Grace-Moretz-in-The-Equalizer-2014-Movie-Image-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikibyYHvDNtBMhC4_H4Bj957Td64eBQxD45NjGVt4Mwzs14fH9-7k0fQGi8zId8RpICjhcv3IPxji8-4j1M-IZm7jrVa-K-LxbygDi_fKjhduNXNVWGysClALIrP0wedQdfTMpCCBX3CdD/s400/Denzel-Washington-and-Chloe%CC%88-Grace-Moretz-in-The-Equalizer-2014-Movie-Image-2.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi57ZH3Y7DvJbGLqGW1ThXi12GQWVzbVox5uoRJAbDcjZElMKzWxrRlH0J-nIM6zJ7Ok50r2Qpgv99OuCY_RU5V7teibHVTxhnVCjqgE8JdtKVYutNWl1lVxYtDUM35tXlN30w_dx2T-tqB/s1600/gone+girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi57ZH3Y7DvJbGLqGW1ThXi12GQWVzbVox5uoRJAbDcjZElMKzWxrRlH0J-nIM6zJ7Ok50r2Qpgv99OuCY_RU5V7teibHVTxhnVCjqgE8JdtKVYutNWl1lVxYtDUM35tXlN30w_dx2T-tqB/s400/gone+girl.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Three character-driven films include strengths but fail to become compelling overall.<br />
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The best of the three - <i>A Walk Among the Tombstones</i> - features Liam Neeson in his usual guise as the tough-guy-who-feels-pain-both-inner-and-outer as he searches for and fights two gruesomely psychotic serial killers. There is a taut showdown among the tombstones, but the final act turns unnecessarily lurid and derivative. <br />
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In the same way Neeson’s guilt-ridden Matt Scudder bonds with a young outcast in a diner, Denzel Washington’s smoldering loner Robert McCall strikes up a relationship with a teenage hooker in a diner in East Boston in <i>The Equalizer</i>. Denzel’s diner scenes with Chloe Grace Moretz are superbly shot and performed. The rest of the film turns into an excessive, often silly, deluge of blood spilt as McCall sets out to eradicate all the bad guys involved in victimizing the “innocent” girl.<br />
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Finally, <i>Gone Girl</i> is mostly a dull ride as Ben Affleck goes through the motions as the framed hubbie, and Rosamund Pike comes off as mostly unchilling as the cold-blooded "Amazing Amy" Dunne. What happened here? Part of the problem is that the novel is a long and drawn out melodrama that stretches credibility to the snapping point. David Fincher seemed promising as the kind of director who could turn it into something visually arresting and disturbing, but Fincher is tame until a stand-out scene of orgiastic blood-letting that certainly woke me up. Ultimately, however, the film as a whole is a bland disappointment.Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-62010748471353487092014-08-26T11:30:00.002-04:002014-08-26T11:30:58.428-04:00Terry Gilliam's The Zero Theorem<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTvggSwG1ObhidDSc3ZIiACzH6YMNK0-xygkecN8U9TW36P2qNMvN_CnuwVvQYKB1Nzn3nb18AaL3njJ3tUbrx_SByYdxRFhOuklkhP4Ye9qYJ6-48NI_cZwwUuIk6jRj_rwEQetZ3AS2s/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTvggSwG1ObhidDSc3ZIiACzH6YMNK0-xygkecN8U9TW36P2qNMvN_CnuwVvQYKB1Nzn3nb18AaL3njJ3tUbrx_SByYdxRFhOuklkhP4Ye9qYJ6-48NI_cZwwUuIk6jRj_rwEQetZ3AS2s/s400/Unknown.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJJb1LBeQLoexmhUQShm5LQN6HEIer9QiagOnVZr9mJR2OsfuHZzrmImdOWAXEnlI-86NhrWFw9WVOelgdqLoxtuBRjSRVNVApaiI2jK90Z_2QS0uclNu76xqwKKq-5oO79uU5Cb9uR5Fm/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJJb1LBeQLoexmhUQShm5LQN6HEIer9QiagOnVZr9mJR2OsfuHZzrmImdOWAXEnlI-86NhrWFw9WVOelgdqLoxtuBRjSRVNVApaiI2jK90Z_2QS0uclNu76xqwKKq-5oO79uU5Cb9uR5Fm/s400/images.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRcu09lXVKerAP8oszZvgpzYdEaIuWP71BnndjqmS7ORjxYw2bbYP32l6g-5OPAfua1upz5MCWc4bVanQTZjxKXQWZABAa8Xbg5LC9nT_fQ6slHBphWgGb67EO9WD_TjPXwywIGumBiF3V/s1600/images-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRcu09lXVKerAP8oszZvgpzYdEaIuWP71BnndjqmS7ORjxYw2bbYP32l6g-5OPAfua1upz5MCWc4bVanQTZjxKXQWZABAa8Xbg5LC9nT_fQ6slHBphWgGb67EO9WD_TjPXwywIGumBiF3V/s400/images-1.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
In <i>The Zero Theorem</i> Terry Gilliam borrows way too much from Ridley Scott’s <i>Blade Runner</i> (overcrowded megacity glutted with advertising; the meaning of existence; blonde in tight skirt; pigeons) and his own film <i>Brazil</i> (bureaucratic dystopia; totalitarian control; bizarre computers; unlikely relationship; escape into fantasy; tubing) to be an experience as refreshing and original as <i>The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus</i>. In addition, Gilliam allows his performers to slip into weirdness to the detriment of the story's essential seriousness. Here, Christoph Waltz plays an agoraphobic, misanthropic computer hacker assigned the job of proving a perplexing theorem that suggests that life has no meaning – while at the same time trying to determine the meaning of life. Despite a promising first scene, and a number of arresting images, Gilliam leaves us with a disappointing resolution, whereas a more spectacular denouement seems to be promised by the film’s opening image. Still, I can’t help but marvel at the amazing detail and outlandish, Pythonesque weirdness of Gilliam’s expansive imagination.Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-34747316008189080042014-08-23T19:03:00.000-04:002014-08-23T19:03:57.533-04:00Teen Summer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvrKsWxmtczs8x7XVIXkbh9JybbjF32XBEIe3sHCIKhFZwVeYoXZkTHyZgJnrKFpBip6hk8Ah_yNCDEb1R0mxklyVWXw33k9cFL4f6DTALJSUNKry9xm55G1Yihmt1ifmI1fBT6AN_X_rB/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvrKsWxmtczs8x7XVIXkbh9JybbjF32XBEIe3sHCIKhFZwVeYoXZkTHyZgJnrKFpBip6hk8Ah_yNCDEb1R0mxklyVWXw33k9cFL4f6DTALJSUNKry9xm55G1Yihmt1ifmI1fBT6AN_X_rB/s400/images.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH6aaFo0GEU5P3xLUuka0pBRXaVIEfpvgm5EzR0txmHn_Ktd903GAz9HJoTXgLrqs7Dq0LmILkUgB_161DvJSPqHZarmDofguH0hLoOmwS_E38T7Oikhl95ZMyptpXc4t8wqeUk3SH1Ldg/s1600/images-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH6aaFo0GEU5P3xLUuka0pBRXaVIEfpvgm5EzR0txmHn_Ktd903GAz9HJoTXgLrqs7Dq0LmILkUgB_161DvJSPqHZarmDofguH0hLoOmwS_E38T7Oikhl95ZMyptpXc4t8wqeUk3SH1Ldg/s400/images-1.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-VzpLCcYTAplmQ2TXYjedmbStbjx98bmsfq9zrBuTTBsp6HPweFxIHTvrjZIf908p5q7-9OFOVrp2nXLeM7gcNFWDcywmVCop9EHUbhTi37TB_ozabplPSIhpzebbkvoOK2HEgvt90xx/s1600/images-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-VzpLCcYTAplmQ2TXYjedmbStbjx98bmsfq9zrBuTTBsp6HPweFxIHTvrjZIf908p5q7-9OFOVrp2nXLeM7gcNFWDcywmVCop9EHUbhTi37TB_ozabplPSIhpzebbkvoOK2HEgvt90xx/s400/images-2.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
This summer, the big, loud action blockbusters came out roaring, booming, and punching, but they subsided quickly into the vast realm of the forgettable. Meanwhile, teen-oriented films based on popular young-adult novels offered viewers some lasting emotional impressions. <i>The Fault in Our Stars</i>, <i>The Giver</i>, and <i>If I Stay</i> all have their silly moments, but two of them offer fine performances, by Shailene Woodley and Chloë Grace Moretz, and all of them provide touching moments that are a refreshing break from the ubiquitous blockbuster action made up of extravagant explosions and endless, pounding fisticuffs between heroes and villains. In addition, this summer, <i>Boyhood</i>, a realistic, touching examination of a boy growing up into teenhood, drew young viewers to “art-house” theaters. <br />
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We are in the midst of a growing trend. The thriving young-adult fiction market churns out dystopian, post-apocalyptic, and romance novels that get teens reading and hankering for the inevitable film version of the more popular ones. Teen viewers might complain that the filmmakers left out or changed this or that scene, but they love visualizations of their favorite books, and the only pounding is the pounding of their hearts during the romantic scenes – which tend to have a more lasting impression than the noisiest action and the biggest explosions.Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-42558188953638137442014-08-03T21:53:00.001-04:002014-08-03T21:53:27.242-04:00When the Moment Seizes You: Boyhood<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg79Y7K_ecVHeSwSGRcF_1gtShfqQcMvbwC36XxbNt5j-M2u5rHPzvSJZ05ipcvTglCO2wAS2P-rcFXWsrlcWRBHmy8jOa9sobrfY477eSOp-QtydkR4OophKeSupHPN3mrN6E5Ywwe8Zr4/s1600/images-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg79Y7K_ecVHeSwSGRcF_1gtShfqQcMvbwC36XxbNt5j-M2u5rHPzvSJZ05ipcvTglCO2wAS2P-rcFXWsrlcWRBHmy8jOa9sobrfY477eSOp-QtydkR4OophKeSupHPN3mrN6E5Ywwe8Zr4/s400/images-1.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizBfNyyBe3KApoeJD44HG2fvjHJuyXPUP_PjZ1h_i318ILIDLaAJc8aF4u8vunOE4CHCUr8q7t8pwOxebOl4lZ168GBHkpFzWLEGFdQ-9Te2qrQZzM1NlTd24ztQW8A88HLrwDBnRNIQoq/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizBfNyyBe3KApoeJD44HG2fvjHJuyXPUP_PjZ1h_i318ILIDLaAJc8aF4u8vunOE4CHCUr8q7t8pwOxebOl4lZ168GBHkpFzWLEGFdQ-9Te2qrQZzM1NlTd24ztQW8A88HLrwDBnRNIQoq/s400/images.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
<i>Boyhood</i>, Richard Linklater’s epic portrait of a boy’s life from age 6 to age 18, was filmed over a twelve-year period with Ellar Coltrane playing Mason, Jr., as the boy, while Ethan Hawke and Praticia Arquette play his divorced parents and Loralei Linklater plays his sister. As these performers age over the 12 years of filming, they play out a simple drama about everyday life. Mason Jr. wonders about the world, makes friends, submits to temptations, develops a passion for photography, has a high school girl-friend, breaks up, and goes off to college, all the while questioning the meaning of life and looking for his place in the world. What’s it all for? Meanwhile, his mother struggles as a single mother trying to get an education to get a better job; she also gets into, and out of, two bad marriages with alcoholic, abusive individuals. The boy’s father, Mason, Sr., played by Ethan Hawke, is a wandering free spirit, also looking for his place in the world. Though Hawke has played a similar sort of character in the <i>Before Sunrse</i> trilogy, he develops his character substantially over the twelve years of filming, and at times Hawke unifies a film with very little, if any, pervading conflict. <br />
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At times a little stilted and aimless, the film very effectively presents life’s mundane moments and real dramas, both painful and touching. Some of the film’s moments are so naturalistically depicted that, for example, you can smell the fried food in the restaurant kitchen where Mason Jr. flirts with a co-worker or feel the Texas sun on your back when the boy and his father take a dip in the water on a camping trip. The long tracking shot down an alleyway when Mason Jr. talks to a gossipy school girl as he walks next to her on her bicycle is sharply realistic and suggests the countless moments like this that make up a childhood. <br />
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Although not as expansive or awe-inspiring as <i>The Tree of Life</i>, another vivid depiction of growing up in a Texas town, <i>Boyhood</i> is awesome in its scope as it takes you convincingly from the moment when a young boy lies on his back and wonders about the universe to the moment when he goes on a hike with new college friends and wonders about a possible future with someone he seems to connect with. The film stresses the importance of each moment in life, and within its 165-minute length, it covers many of those moments in a twelve-year span with an honest minimalism.<br />
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Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-17489508892371340152014-07-27T13:26:00.000-04:002014-07-27T20:41:00.398-04:00Best Actor: Andy Serkis for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi43afOcFtNNhF-y8ZwoWli1E1yw2s3hbJ9ye-s4r4wLMRPPxP3CL3hCLfI-ZB861IK5kCjwY417vHUEVS1mgttxMYYeTNMPfpVygcjlJCkcYpNMkvVXtjBC-6wUff6hBKZZ1T7e1dhpiMH/s1600/images-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi43afOcFtNNhF-y8ZwoWli1E1yw2s3hbJ9ye-s4r4wLMRPPxP3CL3hCLfI-ZB861IK5kCjwY417vHUEVS1mgttxMYYeTNMPfpVygcjlJCkcYpNMkvVXtjBC-6wUff6hBKZZ1T7e1dhpiMH/s400/images-2.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYn0RCJdbe2pkOk-cWKM0hYvEiukQ09DY6gcRrnLeM3g6QiNLE30P2kIP75NdedaEIPMeU9XkPdq4sKDUMBIuEn4oXqOHPFbU7Kt_lwST6GpHLwxEVj78MOZyWpoa2coRW6Kwy5elBt-X2/s1600/images-3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYn0RCJdbe2pkOk-cWKM0hYvEiukQ09DY6gcRrnLeM3g6QiNLE30P2kIP75NdedaEIPMeU9XkPdq4sKDUMBIuEn4oXqOHPFbU7Kt_lwST6GpHLwxEVj78MOZyWpoa2coRW6Kwy5elBt-X2/s400/images-3.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2BLcQ1RSCP5i7-ckwdWX9xnTFONPtZBKkhGeazhsidZ13BGQJl4JvAtLPMcgJ4D2fj1z-tXJVF1vxv7CKJ0Pbt5Cv-_4_ojVQ1_9ZNfX0ti_imrpziqUTRtG9lMmu_ai-24TEHONxy95p/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2BLcQ1RSCP5i7-ckwdWX9xnTFONPtZBKkhGeazhsidZ13BGQJl4JvAtLPMcgJ4D2fj1z-tXJVF1vxv7CKJ0Pbt5Cv-_4_ojVQ1_9ZNfX0ti_imrpziqUTRtG9lMmu_ai-24TEHONxy95p/s400/images.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
In <i>Rise of the Planet of the Apes</i> (2011) the skillful agility and facial expressions of Andy Serkis, rendered by means of motion-capture CGI, brought the character of Caesar alive in a re-imagining of the Apes saga.<br />
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In this year’s <i>Dawn of the Planet of the Apes</i> Serkis continues to prove his talent for what is mostly silent acting, further developing the character of Caesar through expressive body language and subtle facial inflections.<br />
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At this point in the year, Serkis is my nominee for Best Actor, 2014. The new Apes film is not as taut or compelling as the first installment. Its first half is the better half as it establishes the visuals and atmosphere of the Apes’ colony in Muir Woods. The image of apes riding horses is an immediate reference to <i>Planet of the Apes</i> (1968), and I enjoyed visual touches like that. The film’s latter half, however, subsides into a clichéd battle between apes and men and comes to a climax with a combat between Caesar and his rival, Koba, that reminds you of every last boring fistfight between a long list of boring superheroes and their boring foes. Nevertheless, throughout the film, Serkis as Caesar is a compelling driving force.<br />
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For the inevitable sequel, I would like to see the dawn of a lot more imagination as the filmmakers re-imagine what comes next.<br />
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Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929352816561809263.post-80348865450169504272014-07-02T18:02:00.000-04:002014-07-02T18:03:31.913-04:00Recent Viewings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-oYP8wO0zwi4trsr-gv3RXb-iTyqS_-pBWTm3Qhy_GOSsMjpTCGj3_1u5WWzFVMxU-NisG2h1K41CqLflqAvGD2RCjXzOlNAAA0O9lNXYaryYY1ctS7QDncM8n2ycT7bxk-zWN8VkH75Q/s1600/images-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-oYP8wO0zwi4trsr-gv3RXb-iTyqS_-pBWTm3Qhy_GOSsMjpTCGj3_1u5WWzFVMxU-NisG2h1K41CqLflqAvGD2RCjXzOlNAAA0O9lNXYaryYY1ctS7QDncM8n2ycT7bxk-zWN8VkH75Q/s400/images-1.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
<i>The Rover</i>, with Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson, makes <i>The Road</i> seem cheerful. Well, not quite, but this bleak post-apocalyptic shoot-'em-up might even depress Cormac McCarthy. Pattinson does a good job of channeling James Dean as Lennie Small.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI_VgwzRwJCpEFMMhgHxKsURfkVjBba19274XGNYXGKaAqtyUXrBv4YMe9MhM4Y0ozEbpZKQ8nhfCbMhRS02w2G7VGXYDozMsihsK6uizYnPojUUbh1Saiw2LvebOTQS2MZhEW80pjQEYd/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI_VgwzRwJCpEFMMhgHxKsURfkVjBba19274XGNYXGKaAqtyUXrBv4YMe9MhM4Y0ozEbpZKQ8nhfCbMhRS02w2G7VGXYDozMsihsK6uizYnPojUUbh1Saiw2LvebOTQS2MZhEW80pjQEYd/s400/Unknown.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
Excellent performances by Phoenix, Cotillard, and Renner in <i>The Immigrant</i>, the story of a Russian immigrant sacrificing herself to get her sister off Ellis Island. Superb art direction. Very authentic atmosphere that transports you to 1920s New York City.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqrBAJ9b1jlNghPjL7leVKGfqoUgbSpm1e34P8vS-KRBJaMUeDQipb7ClOJmLkfM8GmLHUwdjJbZHhtippWne9lQ5YwF3XC9lyEgyRZMm6puk1gogRpgzd05xRLtMEIPgzANDkYuKSh0Vk/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqrBAJ9b1jlNghPjL7leVKGfqoUgbSpm1e34P8vS-KRBJaMUeDQipb7ClOJmLkfM8GmLHUwdjJbZHhtippWne9lQ5YwF3XC9lyEgyRZMm6puk1gogRpgzd05xRLtMEIPgzANDkYuKSh0Vk/s400/images.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are indeed hilarious together.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfL5niCnxbgzXL1q4YdA9xrvApmXT_OwKIc-lhHsoI3tqOXsfDL9ZU3CTJlhawVvDWtokXN8Gi6DZKXo7-txQHN7nGF2qOXkLW1vlqn7efOjSybSnyqYMM6eJK9Z56R-2-aneuBgs1YR9N/s1600/images-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfL5niCnxbgzXL1q4YdA9xrvApmXT_OwKIc-lhHsoI3tqOXsfDL9ZU3CTJlhawVvDWtokXN8Gi6DZKXo7-txQHN7nGF2qOXkLW1vlqn7efOjSybSnyqYMM6eJK9Z56R-2-aneuBgs1YR9N/s400/images-2.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
Yes, I saw it. And it took my mind off things for nearly all of its epic two hour and forty-five-minute length. Two hours and forty-five minutes! Geez louise! What temerity. But, I have to say, Mark Wahlberg carries you through it with his wide-eyed action movie sincerity, and he invests himself in his role as a father trying to save his daughter - and the world. "It's a transformer!" Who else could have said that with the same geeky passion? Also, there's some nice humor as he objects to his daughter's relationship with an older guy while they are running away from the bad bots. The film downplays the clish-clash cacophony of clattering contraptions constantly crumpling into cars - and we get some very interesting action aboard the huge, gothic alien spacecraft as well as a clever fight between good guy and bad guy in a high-rise slum in Hong Kong. All the action played out in Hong Kong is nicely filmed.<br />
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Richard Bellamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com0