AND THINGS THAT GO BABADOOK IN THE NIGHT: Movie reviews of The Babadook and A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night by Howard Casner
Posted: December 8, 2014 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Ana Lily Amirpour, Arash Mrandi, Daniel Henshall, Dominc Rains, Essie Davis, Jennifer Kent, Lyle Vincent, Noah Wiseman, Sheila Van, Simon Njoo, The Babadook | 2 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors. Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
Warning: SPOILERS
Two movies have opened lately that fall into the horror genre and have much in common. They both have female central characters and both have been directed by women. They are both first features, filmed on a low budget, show a formidable amount of talent and have more style than a Coco Chanel fashion shoot.
And though I’m not quite convinced that either really rise above what they are, they have so much going for them that I think both are more than worth the look.
In The Babadook from Australia, written and directed by Jennifer Kent (based on a short film of hers called Monster), a pregnant woman, Amelia, loses her husband in a car crash as he is taking her to the hospital to deliver their child. Six years later, Amelia is a single, working mom trying to raise her only son.
But something is wrong. Said son Samuel can’t sleep at night for fear of monsters under the bed and in the closet. This means Amelia is not getting any sleep and is having more and more trouble holding it all together. Read the rest of this entry »
FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Movie reviews of Wild Tales, Leviathan and Human Capital and a finger wagging at finger waggers of the Oscar foreign language film category
Posted: December 6, 2014 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Aleksey Serebryakov, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Damián Szifrón, Fabrizio Gifuni, foreign language film, Francesco Bruni, Francesco Piccolo, Human Capital, Leviathan, Oleg Negin, Oscar, Paoli Virzi, Ricardo Alberto Darín, Roman Madyanov, Stephen Amidon, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Wild Tales | 2 Comments »
First, a word from our sponsors. Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
Warning: SPOILERS
I’ve been saying in a few of my reviews lately that it’s November (well, now it’s December, but the principle’s the same), meaning that it’s that time of the year again, meaning it’s awards season, meaning that such a circumstance in some way determines what movies are being released and subsequently what movies I have been covering for my blog.
Well, still I say it’s still that time of the year again, which means it’s award season, which means that a large number of movies from other countries are making their appearance in some way since both the Oscars and The Golden Globes have foreign language film categories, which means…well, here we are.
I saw the films Wild Tales, Leviathan and Human Capital at AFI. They are all their respective countries (Argentina, Russia and Italy) entries in the foreign language film category.
But before I begin, I would like to take a few paragraphs to grouse about people who grouse about how this particular Oscar category is handled. Read the rest of this entry »
NO MORE FUN AND HUNGER GAMES or THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED: Movie review of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part I by Howard Casner
Posted: November 28, 2014 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Danny Strong, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Francis Lawrence, Jeffrey Wright, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Julianne Moore, Liam Helmsworth, Peter Craig, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Stanley Tucci, Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part I, Woody Harrelson | 8 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors. Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
Warning: SPOILERS
Okay.
How to start.
Well, there’s really no point in putting it off.
At the risk of losing what little reputation I have (if I even have one); at the risk of inviting ridicule, derision, mockery and scorn from those who read my reviews who don’t already hold me in ridicule, derision, mockery and scorn; and at the risk of being reviled by serious filmgoers far and wide…
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part I is not nearly as bad as the critics claim it is and is by far the best entry in the franchise to date, far better than the first two films. Read the rest of this entry »
REEL MEN, REAL MEN, PART TWO: Movie review of Mr. Turner, Saint Laurent and The Theory of Everything by Howard Casner
Posted: November 25, 2014 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Anthony McCarten, Bertrand Bonello, Brady Corbet, Charlie Cox, Christian McKay Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Dennis Sciama, Dick Pope, Dorothy Atkinson, Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Gaspard Ulliel, Helmut Berger, Jacqueline Durran, James Marsh, Jérémie Renier, Lea Seydoux, Louis Garrel, Marion Bailey, Martin Savage, Mike Leigh, Mr. Turner, Ruth Sheen, Saint Laurent, Simon McBurney, Stephen Hawking, Suzie Davies, The Theory of Everything, Thomas Bidegan, Timothy Spall | 26 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors. Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
Warning: SPOILERS
I continue now with my reviews of the sudden spate of movies based on real people that are arriving late in the year because, well, we’re entering awards season, and what awards season would be complete without an overabundance of inspired by true event stories.
First up…
Early on in Mr. Turner, writer/director Mike Leigh’s latest film about the famed 19th century land- and seascape artist, his servants prepare a pig’s head for a meal.
What is so interesting about this, and the reason I draw attention to it, is that the porcine’s pate bears a remarkable resemblance to the great painter himself with the artist constantly snorting and grunting as if Babe was his mother (or father, I can’t remember whether that famed shoat was a boar or a sow).
In fact, one might say that, Timothy Spall, a member of Leigh’s stock company of actors and who plays the title character here, does one of the greatest, if not greatest, imitation of a sus scrofa domesticus I’ve ever encountered in cinematic history. If someone is planning a remake of Animal Farm, I think we have our Old Napoleon.
It may be a dubious distinction, but a distinction none the less. Read the rest of this entry »
WHAT HAPPENED TO ONE THROUGH FIVE: Movie reviews of Big Hero 6 and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya by Howard Casner
Posted: November 23, 2014 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alan Tudyk, and George Segal, Beau Bridges, Big Hero 6, Chloȅ Grace Moretz, Chris Williams, Daman Wayans, Daniel Gerson and Robert L. Baird, Don Hall, Isao Sakaguchi, James Caan, James Cromwell, James Marsden, Joe Hisaishi, Jordan Roberts, Jr., Lucy Liu, Mary Steenburgen, Maya Rudolph, Oliver Platt, Riko Sakaguchi, Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Stan Lee, Studio Ghibli, T.J. Miller, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya | 1,609 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors. Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
Warning: SPOILERS
I’m sure you’ve heard the old joke, the one about the guy who said, “I’m not going to see Henry V because I haven’t seen the first four yet”?
Well, don’t worry, fair filmgoers, Big Hero 6 is not a sequel (though believe me, to paraphrase Paul Thomas Anderson, there will be sequels). It’s more an origin story of a group of X-Men like super young adults set in a city named San Fransokyo (so called because it’s an alternative future where Japanese immigrants rebuilt the city where I left my heart after the 1906 earthquake).
Big Hero 6 is a fun and satisfying enough animated movie, especially in the first half where it tends to show a bit more heart and emphasizes emotional resonance over the more prevalent action oriented approach of the second half.
True, it’s fairly familiar and almost Disney paint by number. I mean, c’mon, you gotta know that a mother or father or mother figure or father figure to the central character is going to die early on because, well, it’s Disney, and the only thing that studio likes more than making animated movies that rake in a ton of money is trying to traumatize pre-teens in the first fifteen minutes of their films (unless it’s about a dog, then they wait until the last fifteen). Read the rest of this entry »
REEL MEN, REAL MEN, PART ONE: Movie reviews of Foxcatcher, Rosewater and The Imitation Game by Howard Casner
Posted: November 21, 2014 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alan Turing, Allen Leech, Anthony Michael Hall, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bennett Miller, Channing Tatum, Charles Dance, Dan Futterman, E. Max Frye, Foxcatcher, Gael Garcia Bernal, Graham Moore, Howard Shore, Jason Jones, Jon Stewart, Kid Bodnia, Kiera Knightly, Mark Ruffalo, Mark Strong, Matthew Goode, Maziar Bahari, Morten Tyldum, Rosewater, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Steve Carrell, The Imitation Game, Vanessa Redgrave | 1,167 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors. Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
Warning: SPOILERS
It’s November, which means we few, we happy few, we band of brothers, are fast approaching awards season, which in turn means distributors, producers and studios are bringing out a bunch of stunt performances, or as we vulgarly call them in the vernacular, bio-pics, to qualify for the Academy Awards (among other competitions).
And this year is not only no different, it may actually set a record as it’s quite possible that three of the five female nominees for best actress Oscars will be for movies with characters based on real people and the male category may have up to four.
So please join me for the first installment of Reel Men, Real Men.
Foxcatcher is a movie about a poor younger man with daddy issues who becomes entangled in the life of a wealthy older man with mommy issues. The filmmakers seem determined to raise all the goings on to the level of Greek tragedy, but I’m not convinced it comes close to anything remotely Sophoclean. Read the rest of this entry »
MINORITY REPORT: Movie reviews of Dear White People, The Way He Looks and the “other” in movies
Posted: November 19, 2014 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brandon P. Bell, Daniel Ribiero, Dear White People, Dennis Haysbert, Fabio Audi, Ghilherme Lobo, Justin Simien, Kyle Gallner, Tess Amorim, Tessa Thompson, Teyonah Parris, The Way He Looks, Tyler James Williams | 3 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors. Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
Warning: SPOILERS
Those who make films that appeal to niche markets in some way (by niche, I mean specific audiences of some sort: gay, black, Hispanic, female, etc.) have a good news/bad news issue in moviedom.
The good news is that they have a preset group of people who are inherently more interested in seeing the movie because it is about them and their lives.
The bad news is that they have a preset group of people who are more inherently interested in seeing the movie because it is about them, but it is very difficult to convince anyone outside of that niche to buy tickets because they assume the movie can’t possibly have anything to say to them since it is about the “other” in their lives. Read the rest of this entry »
WORKING WOMEN: Movie reviews of Two Days One Night, The Clouds of Silas Maria and Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
Posted: November 14, 2014 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Chloȅ Grace Moretz, Gett The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Juliet Binoche, Kristen Stewart, Luc Dardenne, Marion Cotillard, Menashe Noy, Olivier Ossayas, Ronit Elkabetz, Sasson Gabai, Schlomi Elkabetz, Simon Abkarian, The Clouds of Silas Maria, Two Days One Night | 4 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors. Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
Warning: SPOILERS
I have been attending the AFI film festival and have seen three films with female leads and have noticed a major difference between movies from other countries and those made in the U.S. when it comes to how we treat our actresses.
In the U.S., Marion Cottilard is made to play second fiddle to Johnny Depp, Daniel Day Lewis and Leonard DiCaprio, but on her home continent, two of the top European filmmakers actually built a whole movie around her.
In the U.S., Juliet Binoche is relegated to second tier status after a gigantic lizard goes on the rampage and Kristin Stewart is stuck in ridiculous teen angst films and even more ridiculous, over the top Hollywood blockbusters, but in Europe the two are allowed to play opposite each other in roles with depths most American actresses only dream of.
And in the U.S., when it comes to a study of a marriage, we have the misogynistic Gone Girl, with a psychotic wife who will do anything to punish her husband, even set him up for her own murder (while killing herself, no less), while from Israel, we have a film in which a woman desperately tries to get a divorce from a court that is almost determined to keep her in her place and not let her have it.
Prevailing wisdom is that this is one of the weakest years for actresses and the air is filled with panic as voters try to find five females to fill the slots for the Oscar noms for this year.
But prevailing wisdom always seems to leave out the pertinent proviso that this is really only true for the U.S.
Read the following reviews and weep at our inability to create worthy roles for half the population. Read the rest of this entry »
HEARTS OF DARKNESS: Movie reviews of Nightcrawler, Force Majeure, and Listen Up Philip by Howard Casner
Posted: November 10, 2014 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bill Paxton, Brady Corbet, by Ruben Ӧstlund, Dan Gilroy, Force Majeure, Jake Gyllenhaal, Johannes Kuhnke, Kevin Rahm, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Nightcrawler, Renee Russo, Riz Ahmed, Robert Elswit | 4 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors. Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
Warning: SPOILERS
After my friend and I left our screening of Nightcrawler, the new L.A. based neo-noir starring a somewhat gaunt and coyote looking Jake Gyllenhaal, we both commented on how much fun the whole thing was.
And then we wondered, is that really an appropriate reaction to what we just witnessed?
Because Nightcrawler is, well, kind of sick. It’s also dark and edgy and depressing and all the other points of the Scouts’ law and certainly one of the more unflattering looks at humanity that you’ve had the privilege of seeing in some time (everyone has Lady Macbeth hands in this film).
But it’s also kind of exciting and gripping and keeps you grabbing at your armrests.
And yes, indeed, make no mistake about it, it’s also a ton of fun. Read the rest of this entry »
ONE HOSPITABLE PLANET DOWN…8.8 BILLION TO GO: Movie review of Interstellar by Howard Casner
Posted: November 8, 2014 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Anne Hathaway, Bill Irwin, Casey Affleck, Christopher Nolan, DAvid Oyelowo, Ellyn Burstyn, Interstellar, Jessica Chastain, John Lithgow, Jonathan Nolan, Mackenzie Foy, Matthew McConaughey, Michael Caine, Nolan brothers, Timothée Chalamet, Tophur Grace, Wes Bentley, William Devane | 1,595 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors. Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
Warning: SPOILERS
I had a very disturbing thought after watching Interstellar, the new thinking man’s sci-fi blockbuster by the Nolan brothers, Jonathan and Christopher (who also directed).
Earth is on its last legs and our only hope is to find another planet that we can move to. In other words, we’ve destroyed this world, but no worries, we’ll just pack up shop and move to another one and start all over. That is, until we use that one up and have to move again, I suppose. And again. And again.
I guess it’s no big deal. After all, we still have a possible 8.8 billion planets to make our way through. Which means that it’s a problem I won’t have to worry about in my lifetime.
But I’m not sure here. I guess when all was said and done, I didn’t find the ending to the movie to be as glorious a paean to the human spirit as much as I think I was supposed to. Read the rest of this entry »
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