POLITICAL THEATER: Movie reviews of Diplomacy, Viva la Liberta and Citizenfour
Posted: December 11, 2014 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: and Raul Nording, Andre Klaussner, Angelo Pasquini, Citizenfour, Cyril Gely, Diplomacy, Edward Snowden, General von Choltitz, Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Niels Arestrup, Robert Andó, Toni Servillo, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Valeria Mastandrea, Viva la Liberta, Volkor Schlӧndorff | 1,367 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
Did General von Choltitz, the Nazi governor of Paris during its final days of occupation, and Raul Nording, the Swedish counsul-general, really meet cute the night before von Choltitz was to blow up the major cultural buildings of Paris and cause the Seine to overflow and kill millions of people? And did Nording actually talk him out of doing so?
Some people say “yes”, some say “no”.
Of course, petty details like that have never stopped dramatists before (see Schiller having Mary, Queen of Scots confront Queen Elizabeth I). And either way, it’s hard not to see the potential for a fascinating confrontation and battle of minds.
So who cares if it really happened or not. 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 »
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