Dirigible
There was a period in his rising carer in which Frank Capra was best known as a director of 'action films', Dirigible being the most commercially successful of these. The film stars Ralph Graves and Jack Holt (Capra's preferred leading mean of the time) as "Frisky" Pierce and Jack Bradon respectively. "Frisky" and Jack are old friends and genial rivals who have each carved out a nitch for themselves in the U.S. Navy, with "Frisky" appropriately a dare devil pilot, and Jack the premier captain and champion of the nations small airship 'fleet'. Famed explorer Louis Rondelle (Hobart Bosworth) is about to attempt another of his multiple attempts to reach the south pool and Rear Admiral John S. Martin (Emmett Corrigan) decides it would be great PR (if logically confusing) to attempt this feat with the aid of a big blimp. At first "Frisky" is to accompany Jack, but as a favor to the formers worried wife (Fay Wray), Jack drops "Frisky" from the expedition without explanation ,thus rather off putting "Frisky" Pierce. The Zeppelin doesn't make it, for some reason it falls apart in a storm on the way there, everybody survives however so famed explorer Louis Rondelle chooses to make his next effort with Pierce. That expedition is also ill fated, and Rondelle, Pierce and a small group get stranded in the Antarctic, with who better then Dirigible dean Jack Bradon to mount a rescue. Sure it costs some people there lives, and probably millions of dollars, but at least the frostbitten misadventure convinces dare devil Pierce to cool down (rim shot) and spend more time with his worry full wife. The scenes of the blimp fiasco are interesting if a little hard to interpret, and the arctic sequences work in there way, but mostly this is just a pleasant if dull outing. Fair
The Black Dahlia
Brian De Palma is a director I know from reputation rather then from his work, in fact this is the first of his films that I've seen. To be honest at first I had a hard time getting over the set design, the seemingly forced period references, and archetypal dialogue, the very conscious use of genera conventions, but I should have trusted the source material as coming from James Ellory if nothing else. This is a genera picture, it is an homage, to the actually Black Dahlia killing the film fictionalizes among other things. Accepting this one can really get into the narrative, and the film making, and the characters, who are types, but multi-faceted. Strong cast with Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, and a crazy Hillary Swank. Though its not as good as LA Confidential it dose superbly captures the same heightenedly seamy grove, motoring relentlessly through a nourish, psychological maze, quite satisfying, even Great.
Kitchen Stories
In the 1950's a team of Swedish scientists went to live with single Norwegian men to monitor their use of kitchen space so as to design a kitchen for optimal efficiency. As part of the study rules the researchers and their subjects are never suppose to talk to each other, but two of them do and become good friends. I appreciate the idea of this movie, it sounded cute, but its mostly very slow and understated, pleasant, but weak, like watered down lemonade. To well done to be poor, but not more then Fair.
Stagecoach
I'm kind of ashamed I hadn't seen this till now, its essential film literacy viewing. Stagecoach sums up the western in one film, and with John Ford directing to boot. Iconic Monument Valley, Indians on the war path, outlaws, saloon girls, innocents, honest men and heels, it even has John Wayne (this is the movie generally credited with making him a star). Obviously adapted from The Outcasts of Poker Flat, the story concerns a diverse group of characters thrust together on a stagecoach trying to make it to safety ahead of Geronimo's forces. From the drunken doctor, to the honest Marshell, the good hearted saloon girl, the faithful officers wife, the gentlemanly card shark, the crooked banker, and on through the noble outlaw, its a showcase of western types lovingly and expertly portraid. It didn't set me on fire, but its solid, and an indisputable part of the cannon. Good
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Take Shelter (2011), The Usual Suspects (1995), H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (2005)
Take Shelter
I've long thought that Michael Shannon was an interesting actor and have wanted to see him in a lead role, also that Jessica Chastain is intriguing and surprisingly omnipresent all of a sudden, so I thought I'd watch this movie. Having seen it now I'm surprised at the extent of its critical praise, it just didn't quite come together for me. The apocalyptic overtones in addition to the cast drew me, but I felt the film never quite settled on what it wanted to be. This is at least partially appropriate in that Shannon's character is never quite sure what he is experiencing, is it mental illness, prophetic intimations of impending disaster, or just a big metaphor about wanting to protect his family? At little of each? I often like slow films, as well as movies that don't spell everything out for you so you must draw your own conclusions, but this one was just not quite satisfying, it never gave you quite enough, it felt like they were almost there, but never quite made it to the promised land. The performances here are better then the material. Fair
The Usual Suspects
My first memories relating to this film go back to 1995. My grandfather was visiting us for a time that summer and was to sleep in my room, as a consequence I was to sleep in a roll away bed in my brothers room. It was the first or second night and while my brother feel asleep easily I did not, and ended up spending most of the night listing to the audio for the local ABC affiliate that was then available over the radio (I think I finally feel asleep during Agribusiness Weekly). I must have heard the World New Now review for The Usual Suspects three times, and was quite intrigued, much more intrigued then I was about the other film reviewed that night, The Babysitters Club. It's a bit of a surprise that I didn't see this movie until now, though I'd had a couple of opportunities. This is a signature piece of 90's crime and paranoia cinema, with a great cast, and an intriguing conceit. Gabriel Byrne is ever a woundedly noble presence, and Kevin Spacey in ever a showy part. Not Seven, but I'll still round it to Great.
I've long thought that Michael Shannon was an interesting actor and have wanted to see him in a lead role, also that Jessica Chastain is intriguing and surprisingly omnipresent all of a sudden, so I thought I'd watch this movie. Having seen it now I'm surprised at the extent of its critical praise, it just didn't quite come together for me. The apocalyptic overtones in addition to the cast drew me, but I felt the film never quite settled on what it wanted to be. This is at least partially appropriate in that Shannon's character is never quite sure what he is experiencing, is it mental illness, prophetic intimations of impending disaster, or just a big metaphor about wanting to protect his family? At little of each? I often like slow films, as well as movies that don't spell everything out for you so you must draw your own conclusions, but this one was just not quite satisfying, it never gave you quite enough, it felt like they were almost there, but never quite made it to the promised land. The performances here are better then the material. Fair
The Usual Suspects
My first memories relating to this film go back to 1995. My grandfather was visiting us for a time that summer and was to sleep in my room, as a consequence I was to sleep in a roll away bed in my brothers room. It was the first or second night and while my brother feel asleep easily I did not, and ended up spending most of the night listing to the audio for the local ABC affiliate that was then available over the radio (I think I finally feel asleep during Agribusiness Weekly). I must have heard the World New Now review for The Usual Suspects three times, and was quite intrigued, much more intrigued then I was about the other film reviewed that night, The Babysitters Club. It's a bit of a surprise that I didn't see this movie until now, though I'd had a couple of opportunities. This is a signature piece of 90's crime and paranoia cinema, with a great cast, and an intriguing conceit. Gabriel Byrne is ever a woundedly noble presence, and Kevin Spacey in ever a showy part. Not Seven, but I'll still round it to Great.
| H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds For nearly two decades I've thought that they should do a movie of H.G. Well's The War of the Worlds in its original Victorian England setting. That's what I thought this movie would be, and it was not. Instead its yet another contemporary adaptation, and while structurally more faithful to the original narrative then the Spielberg version that came out that same year, it is in every way an inferior production. The budget very minimal, the special effects 90's Sci-Fi Channel quality, the acting, consistently very, even amature bad. The prolonged theological musings and faith crises of the distressed (and for some reason Australian) minister are not interesting, I guess their suppose to be deep or a commentary on Evangelicalism, or something, but they're junk. The movie is overfull of badly realized coincidences, lead C. Thomas Howell's a blank slate, and this alien corpse at the end is so bad, it's just foam padding from a child's gym and some string, I half expected the movies characters to recognize it as such. Just awful. Poor I just learned that another adaption released under the same name and in the same year was actually set in the 1890's, but apparently that movie is quite poor as well. |
Monday, April 2, 2012
Seven (1995), The Battle of the River Plate (1956), Game Change (2012)
Seven
A fine example of the 1990's Paranoia film (see also: Conspiracy Theory, Twelve Monkeys, The Usual Suspects, Enemy of the State, The X-Files, ect.). David Mills (Brad Pitt) is a determined and vaguely agitated young detective who has transferred into the homicide squad of an Urban hell of a community, he is partnered with older detective William R. Somerset (Morgan Freeman), a methodical, well read, and quasi-detached fellow on the verge of retirement. The two stumble into the web of a serial killer who is carrying out murders based on each of the iconic Seven Deadly Sins. Mills and Somerset grate against each other at first, but bond in there resolve to take the psycho down. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Mills fetching young wife.
This is an early David Fincher film and it comes fully formed in his signature style and aesthetic, the feel of the oily wallpaper is almost tangible. The gritty nature of the city and a brief reference about Mills transferring in from "up state" made me at first think the setting was New York (but as a Homicide fan I could also see it being Baltimore). However the climax of the film takes place in a nearby dessert, a rather California feeling one. The sense of disconnect between the eastern seaboard vib of the city, and the near bleached quality of the boardering desert convinces me that the setting is suppose to be a no- place place, much as the villain turns out to be a no- man, man. Creepy, engaging, very well made. I'd even call it Great.
The Battle of the River Plate
Late entry in the Powell/Pressburger cannon, and one of the weaker ones. The Battle of the River Plate is remembered, when it is remembered at all, as the only battle of the Second World War to occur off the coast of South America. The German 'pocket battelship' Graf Spee was having a heck of a spree downing British navel vessels as it criss-crossesd the Atlantic. Eventually the ships method of being relayed attack co-ordinates is deciphered (via the racing pages of Latian American newspapers) and a small armada of British ships attack the vessel, forcing it to limp into the harbor of then neutral Montevideo for repairs. A rather extensive portion of the film is devoted to diplomatic fights over the warships statues in a neutral country, and people trying to figure out what it's stoic Captain Hans Langsdorff (Peter Finch) will do when it comes time to leave port.
The film is quite slow and feels long, the build up to the initial battle is interminable and hardly counts as a build up, the wait for the second quote- unquote "battle" proves this movie to be mostly about waiting, and for something that's not that satisfying. The characters, almost entirely male, are cardboard officers club sorts, and though the story is based on a true one the people in it are among the most flat ever rendered on the British screen, and that's saying something. The villains in this film aren't Nazi's, there just Germans, we get no sense of the ideological element, or point of the war, both sides respect each other and play war as gentleman's cricket. This is fitting with P & P's long standing depiction of the the 'good' or 'sympathetic' German in their war pictures, but perhaps its taken a little far hear. Kind of boring, I can't bring myself to call it poor, so how about Fair.
Game Change
HBO movie adapted from the McCain/Palin portions of the book by the same title written by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. I've read the book and this is a very straight forward adaptation of the material there in. The likes of Palin and McCain downplay the movie as well as the book and say that its not accurate, but I have a sinking suspicion that it mostly is. I didn't think McCain came off that bad, for a politician, but the portrait of Sarah Palin's not a flattering one. Julianne Moore is spot on as Palin, picking up the mantel from Tina Fey, of course the former plays her more serious but given the part is also funny. Much as I remember my reaction to her in 2008, Palin here gives off a great first impression, followed by steadily mounting concern. This is even played as a bit of a horror movie, a 'what hath McCain wrought' on the Republican party. Palin's notoriety has largely run its course by now, but she seems pretty committed to keeping her brand out there, even if its just for the merchandising. Good
Under Construction
A fine example of the 1990's Paranoia film (see also: Conspiracy Theory, Twelve Monkeys, The Usual Suspects, Enemy of the State, The X-Files, ect.). David Mills (Brad Pitt) is a determined and vaguely agitated young detective who has transferred into the homicide squad of an Urban hell of a community, he is partnered with older detective William R. Somerset (Morgan Freeman), a methodical, well read, and quasi-detached fellow on the verge of retirement. The two stumble into the web of a serial killer who is carrying out murders based on each of the iconic Seven Deadly Sins. Mills and Somerset grate against each other at first, but bond in there resolve to take the psycho down. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Mills fetching young wife.
This is an early David Fincher film and it comes fully formed in his signature style and aesthetic, the feel of the oily wallpaper is almost tangible. The gritty nature of the city and a brief reference about Mills transferring in from "up state" made me at first think the setting was New York (but as a Homicide fan I could also see it being Baltimore). However the climax of the film takes place in a nearby dessert, a rather California feeling one. The sense of disconnect between the eastern seaboard vib of the city, and the near bleached quality of the boardering desert convinces me that the setting is suppose to be a no- place place, much as the villain turns out to be a no- man, man. Creepy, engaging, very well made. I'd even call it Great.
The Battle of the River Plate
Late entry in the Powell/Pressburger cannon, and one of the weaker ones. The Battle of the River Plate is remembered, when it is remembered at all, as the only battle of the Second World War to occur off the coast of South America. The German 'pocket battelship' Graf Spee was having a heck of a spree downing British navel vessels as it criss-crossesd the Atlantic. Eventually the ships method of being relayed attack co-ordinates is deciphered (via the racing pages of Latian American newspapers) and a small armada of British ships attack the vessel, forcing it to limp into the harbor of then neutral Montevideo for repairs. A rather extensive portion of the film is devoted to diplomatic fights over the warships statues in a neutral country, and people trying to figure out what it's stoic Captain Hans Langsdorff (Peter Finch) will do when it comes time to leave port.
The film is quite slow and feels long, the build up to the initial battle is interminable and hardly counts as a build up, the wait for the second quote- unquote "battle" proves this movie to be mostly about waiting, and for something that's not that satisfying. The characters, almost entirely male, are cardboard officers club sorts, and though the story is based on a true one the people in it are among the most flat ever rendered on the British screen, and that's saying something. The villains in this film aren't Nazi's, there just Germans, we get no sense of the ideological element, or point of the war, both sides respect each other and play war as gentleman's cricket. This is fitting with P & P's long standing depiction of the the 'good' or 'sympathetic' German in their war pictures, but perhaps its taken a little far hear. Kind of boring, I can't bring myself to call it poor, so how about Fair.
Game Change
HBO movie adapted from the McCain/Palin portions of the book by the same title written by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. I've read the book and this is a very straight forward adaptation of the material there in. The likes of Palin and McCain downplay the movie as well as the book and say that its not accurate, but I have a sinking suspicion that it mostly is. I didn't think McCain came off that bad, for a politician, but the portrait of Sarah Palin's not a flattering one. Julianne Moore is spot on as Palin, picking up the mantel from Tina Fey, of course the former plays her more serious but given the part is also funny. Much as I remember my reaction to her in 2008, Palin here gives off a great first impression, followed by steadily mounting concern. This is even played as a bit of a horror movie, a 'what hath McCain wrought' on the Republican party. Palin's notoriety has largely run its course by now, but she seems pretty committed to keeping her brand out there, even if its just for the merchandising. Good
Under Construction
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
La Bete Humaine (1938)
La Bete Humaine, or "The Human Beast", is a contemporized adaptation of the 1890 Emile Zola novel of the same name. Filmmaker Jean Renoir has commented that this movie was made as an excuse for him and star Jean Gabin to play with trains. Gabin is Jacques Lantier, a train conductor who is passionate about his work, and seems like a real good guy save for the occasional homicidal urge. On rare occasion Lantier will have an episode, he zones out and trys to kill the nearest person, though at the beginning of the film he's never actually gone all the way, who wants to bet that changes in the course of the movie? One night Lantier is returning from a visit to Pairs, by train as a passanger to his home in Le Havre. On the course of this journey a wealthy passinger is murdered, not by Lantier but by Roubaud (Fernand Ledoux) a station master back in Le Havre. Roubaud has forced his young wife Séverine (Simone Simon) to accompany him on this endeavour (the victim, Grandmorin, was Severines Godfather and former lover). Unlike in the book Lantier doesn't witness the murder, but he is easily able to deduce it. He keeps quite, even lies to the police, and uses this as leverage to get closer to the comely Severine, to whom he has taken a fancy. They actually fall in love, but because of Roubaud extreme jealousy(the cause of his killing Grandmorin) they know that the only way they can be together is for the husband to die. The couple plan on kiling Roubaud, but on the night of the intended murder Lantier backs out, he just can't do it, he's only up to killing when he's in one of his fits. Severine breaks the relationship off, Lantier is devastated, and a fit is most likely coming.
Laniter attributes his occasional lapses into fury to a family history of drunkenness, though he himself is not a drinker. Therefore these episodes are never quite conveniently explained, though I suppose the whole point is todemonstrate the volatile human best the lurks just bellow the surface of all of us. Finally shot film, I love all the scenes in the engine car. Simon and Gabin are good, Julien Carette provides humane/comic counter point as Lainters friend and co-worker Pecqueux, while Renoir himself plays Cabuche, the man wrongly accused of Grandorins murder. Not as good as Grand Illusion or The Rules of the Game, but intriguing, evocative, and refreshing for its smaller scale. More then the characters or the plot it is Renoirs meditation on, and ability to evoke human weakness, and the sense of angst that permeates the end of the film that makes this work rise up and beyond its station (train joke). Great
Laniter attributes his occasional lapses into fury to a family history of drunkenness, though he himself is not a drinker. Therefore these episodes are never quite conveniently explained, though I suppose the whole point is todemonstrate the volatile human best the lurks just bellow the surface of all of us. Finally shot film, I love all the scenes in the engine car. Simon and Gabin are good, Julien Carette provides humane/comic counter point as Lainters friend and co-worker Pecqueux, while Renoir himself plays Cabuche, the man wrongly accused of Grandorins murder. Not as good as Grand Illusion or The Rules of the Game, but intriguing, evocative, and refreshing for its smaller scale. More then the characters or the plot it is Renoirs meditation on, and ability to evoke human weakness, and the sense of angst that permeates the end of the film that makes this work rise up and beyond its station (train joke). Great
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Margie (1946), Atomic Cafe (1982), Il Divo (2008)
Margie
Sweet, charming little story about an awkward teenage girl named Margie ( the adorable Jeanne Crain) and the crush she has on her French teacher (Glenn Langan). Made just after the war the film is set during the 1927-1928 school year (premature Hoover posters cause small chronological gaff), and is very nostalgic for this simpler time. It's amazing to think how much changed in that 19 year period, and how quint the late 20's seemed to audiences by the mid-1940's, could you achieve that same effect today with a film set in 1993? Anyway this feels like it could have been a radio program, and is populated with lovable-type characters played the likes of Esther Dale, Hobart Cavanaugh, and Alan Young in his film debut. Really not much to the plot, which is part of its charm. Great payoff to the running Nicaragua gag. Good
Atomic Cafe
Documentary without a narrator consisting of a long string of clips from newsreels, army propaganda films, television interviews ect., which tell the ever escalating story of atomic obsession and paranoia in the United States from 1945 until roughly 1960 (the film never makes it to the Cuban Missile Crises). Punctuated with a surprising number of period songs with atomic or cold war themes, the film is a collage of sorts, but takes a largely chronological approach to its subject matter. From the intal tests in the American south west to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on to the H-bomb and the arms race with he Soviet Union, the film feels like its building to an inevitable nuclear confrontation, even though we know its not. The film ends with a depiction (again using only period footage) of what the start of a nuclear conflict with the Russians might have looked like. There is a surreal Lynchian quality to an apocalypse played out against Eisenhower era banality. An effective and evocative work. Good
Il Divo
Loosely translated 'Il Divo' is Italian for 'the Divine male perfomrer', and the il divo of this picture is Giulio Andreotti. Andreotti ruled as something of a God figure through much of the post-war period in Italy. Entering government service in the late 1940's Andreotti would hold countless government positions over a fifty year career, including three non-consecutive stints as Prime Minister, in 1991 he was named a senator for life (a position he still holds at the age of 93).
Andreotti was a divisive figure, even within his own party the Christian Democrats. Pious, even fatalistic, he was non the less exceptionally cold and Machiavellian. If the anecdote is true were Mao told Nixon that they worked so well together because they were both evil, then Andreotti could well have been added as a third member to their club. Andreotti was indicted but never convicted of a vast ary of crimes, including the deaths of a disconcerting number of close associates, as well as members of the mafia and officials of the Vatican Bank. Toni Servillo plays Andreotti (under heavy makeup he looks kind of like Geoffrey Rush in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers) as essentially Richard the Third, heck the man even had a bit of a hunch back. The real Andreotti walked out of a screening of his bio-pic, and admittedly its hard to know what really happened, even watching the movie its hard to know what's really going on, the system of Italian government is so complicated and the alleged conspiracies so complex, but there is an exquisitely rendered sense of foreboding and menace throughout and its an effective, Godfather- like piece of work. The cinematography and eclectic score also add much to this movie. Great
Sweet, charming little story about an awkward teenage girl named Margie ( the adorable Jeanne Crain) and the crush she has on her French teacher (Glenn Langan). Made just after the war the film is set during the 1927-1928 school year (premature Hoover posters cause small chronological gaff), and is very nostalgic for this simpler time. It's amazing to think how much changed in that 19 year period, and how quint the late 20's seemed to audiences by the mid-1940's, could you achieve that same effect today with a film set in 1993? Anyway this feels like it could have been a radio program, and is populated with lovable-type characters played the likes of Esther Dale, Hobart Cavanaugh, and Alan Young in his film debut. Really not much to the plot, which is part of its charm. Great payoff to the running Nicaragua gag. Good
Atomic Cafe
Documentary without a narrator consisting of a long string of clips from newsreels, army propaganda films, television interviews ect., which tell the ever escalating story of atomic obsession and paranoia in the United States from 1945 until roughly 1960 (the film never makes it to the Cuban Missile Crises). Punctuated with a surprising number of period songs with atomic or cold war themes, the film is a collage of sorts, but takes a largely chronological approach to its subject matter. From the intal tests in the American south west to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on to the H-bomb and the arms race with he Soviet Union, the film feels like its building to an inevitable nuclear confrontation, even though we know its not. The film ends with a depiction (again using only period footage) of what the start of a nuclear conflict with the Russians might have looked like. There is a surreal Lynchian quality to an apocalypse played out against Eisenhower era banality. An effective and evocative work. Good
Il Divo
Loosely translated 'Il Divo' is Italian for 'the Divine male perfomrer', and the il divo of this picture is Giulio Andreotti. Andreotti ruled as something of a God figure through much of the post-war period in Italy. Entering government service in the late 1940's Andreotti would hold countless government positions over a fifty year career, including three non-consecutive stints as Prime Minister, in 1991 he was named a senator for life (a position he still holds at the age of 93).
Andreotti was a divisive figure, even within his own party the Christian Democrats. Pious, even fatalistic, he was non the less exceptionally cold and Machiavellian. If the anecdote is true were Mao told Nixon that they worked so well together because they were both evil, then Andreotti could well have been added as a third member to their club. Andreotti was indicted but never convicted of a vast ary of crimes, including the deaths of a disconcerting number of close associates, as well as members of the mafia and officials of the Vatican Bank. Toni Servillo plays Andreotti (under heavy makeup he looks kind of like Geoffrey Rush in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers) as essentially Richard the Third, heck the man even had a bit of a hunch back. The real Andreotti walked out of a screening of his bio-pic, and admittedly its hard to know what really happened, even watching the movie its hard to know what's really going on, the system of Italian government is so complicated and the alleged conspiracies so complex, but there is an exquisitely rendered sense of foreboding and menace throughout and its an effective, Godfather- like piece of work. The cinematography and eclectic score also add much to this movie. Great
Thursday, March 8, 2012
The Artist (2011)
The first silent feature to win the Academy Award for Best Picture since the 1927 film Wings (though at the time the award was called Outstandng Feature), The Artist is an homage to that transitional period in Hollywood between silent and talking pictures. In fact most of the film is silent, with only two sequences featuring sound (save score), and only one with any dialogue. Jean Dujardin (this years upset win for best actor) plays George Valentin, a fictional movie star of the leading man variety, who at the beginning of the film is on the top of world and loving it. While leaving the primer of his newest film (amusingly an adventure story about Georgian resistance to Soviet domination), Valentin almost literally bumps into a young fan (Berenice Bejo, who has a beautiful silent-era type face). The two are photographed together with Bejo's Peppy Miller (great period style Hollywood name), briefly becoming the subject of media speculation (Who's That Girl?, screams Variety, over a photo of the two outside the premier), all of this to the consternation of Valentin's emotionally distant wife Doris (Penelope Ann Miller).
Peppy Miller of course is an aspiring actress, and when she shows up at Valentin's home studio (Kinograph Studios, another great period name) looking for extra work, George saves her from studio head Al Zimmer's (John Goodman) effort to have her kicked of the premises. She gets a small role in one of Valentin's films, and their chemistry and romantic attraction is clearly evident. Later Valentin, in an effort to provide guidance to the young would-be starlet, uses makeup to add a beauty mark to her face, giving her a signature look, the two reluctantly part ways.
Then the talkies come. Miller enjoys a quick rise to stardom, her looks, playfulness, and winning personality endearing her to audiences, and even to Al Zimmer who signs her. Valentin on the other hand refuses to make a talking a picture (I don't why, but he dose) and instead chooses to invest much of his own money in a epic about a pith helmeted jungle explorer (shades of Clara Bow's Call Her Savage). His movie of course is a flop, and then the stock market crashs wipping out most of Valentins remaining assets. His wife leaves him, and Valentin is forced to move into a small apartment and sell most of his personal belongings (secretly purchased by still love struck, and very much successful Peppy Miller).
Valentin turns to drink, reluctantly fires his faithful valet Clifton (James Cromwell), and is left alone with his also faithful dog and once frequent costar Uggie (a talented Terrier). In a drunken rage Valentin sets to fire his collection of his old films, he is saved from suffocation and flam by the aid of Uggie and a policeman. Peppy comes to Valentin's aid putting him up in her mansion to recover, but the prideful George stubbornly refuses her offer to get him another film role, and so sneaks out of the mansion on a mission to finish what the fire started. As Peppy rushes to his rescue it is only their love that can save him.
Basically this is A Star is Born, only with a happier ending. The limitations of the film are built into its very concept, if it doesn't tell you anything new (much of this subject matter was covered in Singing In the Rain, from which this film freely borrows), it's not suppose too. It's meant to invoke an earlier era, the tropes, style, and dare I say sincerity of a type of film made in the past. One of the things that I loved about the film was its use of 'faces', those distinctive looking character actors of another time are here evocked by there modern day counter parts, the likes of John Goodman, James Cromwell, Malcom McDowell, Beth Grant, and Ezra Buzzington, all that's missing is William H. Macey. The scene in the studio stairwell could well have come from King Vidor, or even Buster Keyton. The backlot city streets are just the type of backlot city streets to remiand you that you love backlot city streets The Artist is a supremely pleasant, warm, and nostalgic production. I don't know if it's truly the best picture of the year, but its surely one of its best cinematic experiences.
Great
Peppy Miller of course is an aspiring actress, and when she shows up at Valentin's home studio (Kinograph Studios, another great period name) looking for extra work, George saves her from studio head Al Zimmer's (John Goodman) effort to have her kicked of the premises. She gets a small role in one of Valentin's films, and their chemistry and romantic attraction is clearly evident. Later Valentin, in an effort to provide guidance to the young would-be starlet, uses makeup to add a beauty mark to her face, giving her a signature look, the two reluctantly part ways.
Then the talkies come. Miller enjoys a quick rise to stardom, her looks, playfulness, and winning personality endearing her to audiences, and even to Al Zimmer who signs her. Valentin on the other hand refuses to make a talking a picture (I don't why, but he dose) and instead chooses to invest much of his own money in a epic about a pith helmeted jungle explorer (shades of Clara Bow's Call Her Savage). His movie of course is a flop, and then the stock market crashs wipping out most of Valentins remaining assets. His wife leaves him, and Valentin is forced to move into a small apartment and sell most of his personal belongings (secretly purchased by still love struck, and very much successful Peppy Miller).
Valentin turns to drink, reluctantly fires his faithful valet Clifton (James Cromwell), and is left alone with his also faithful dog and once frequent costar Uggie (a talented Terrier). In a drunken rage Valentin sets to fire his collection of his old films, he is saved from suffocation and flam by the aid of Uggie and a policeman. Peppy comes to Valentin's aid putting him up in her mansion to recover, but the prideful George stubbornly refuses her offer to get him another film role, and so sneaks out of the mansion on a mission to finish what the fire started. As Peppy rushes to his rescue it is only their love that can save him.
Basically this is A Star is Born, only with a happier ending. The limitations of the film are built into its very concept, if it doesn't tell you anything new (much of this subject matter was covered in Singing In the Rain, from which this film freely borrows), it's not suppose too. It's meant to invoke an earlier era, the tropes, style, and dare I say sincerity of a type of film made in the past. One of the things that I loved about the film was its use of 'faces', those distinctive looking character actors of another time are here evocked by there modern day counter parts, the likes of John Goodman, James Cromwell, Malcom McDowell, Beth Grant, and Ezra Buzzington, all that's missing is William H. Macey. The scene in the studio stairwell could well have come from King Vidor, or even Buster Keyton. The backlot city streets are just the type of backlot city streets to remiand you that you love backlot city streets The Artist is a supremely pleasant, warm, and nostalgic production. I don't know if it's truly the best picture of the year, but its surely one of its best cinematic experiences.
Great
The Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)
In 1994 a team of scientists in the Ardeche region of south-eastern France discovered a previously unknown cave, one which proved to contain the oldest known paintings in existence. Wisely French cultural authorities chose to seal off the cave to prevent unauthorized access and further contamination. With the exception of two full time security guards the only people permitted into the cave are scientists of various disciplines who wish to study its geological, anthropological, artistic and other areas of scientific interest. It was not until a couple of years ago that a professional film crew was allowed inside to document what has become known as the Chauvet Cave. That film crew belonged to the celebrated film maker Werner Herzog, and what they captured is truly amazing.
Ages ago the principal entry way into the cave collapsed, thus preserving the interior much as it would have appeared 10,000 plus years ago. Scientists have discovered no human remains in the cave, though bones from a variety of ancient animals are found in abundance. It appears that no human beings actually lived in the cave full time, but rather that it was used for ceremonial purposes and was considered a sacred space. The variety and large number of paintings inside are testament to the caves long usage for artistic and presumably ceremonial expression, some of the paintings have been dated back as much as 32,000 years with subsequent paintings added over the course of ensuing millennia. Area wildlife, including now extinct woolly rhinos are depicted, as are mammoths, bears, horses and other creatures, human depictions are absent save for the presence of palm prints and one anthropramorph. The rang of styles, and sophistication of the artwork is impressive, the people who drew in these caves have every right to the designation of artist, their work is both skilled and evocative.
The term 'sacred space' is wholly appropriate for the cave, there is a sense of solemness and aw there, it is like a cathedral, a feeling that is only added too by the films often choral soundtrack. Director Herzog adds his signature poetic and raptures narration, and interviews with various scientists and researchers provide the historic context. This documentary was actually filmed in 3D which would have made it all the more impressive to view in a theater, but even without that added effect the visuals are magnificent, and the whole experience reverent and spiritual in nature. The Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a unique and meaningfull experience, film making of an almost wholly different type, and something that will stick with you, perhaps forever.
Great
Ages ago the principal entry way into the cave collapsed, thus preserving the interior much as it would have appeared 10,000 plus years ago. Scientists have discovered no human remains in the cave, though bones from a variety of ancient animals are found in abundance. It appears that no human beings actually lived in the cave full time, but rather that it was used for ceremonial purposes and was considered a sacred space. The variety and large number of paintings inside are testament to the caves long usage for artistic and presumably ceremonial expression, some of the paintings have been dated back as much as 32,000 years with subsequent paintings added over the course of ensuing millennia. Area wildlife, including now extinct woolly rhinos are depicted, as are mammoths, bears, horses and other creatures, human depictions are absent save for the presence of palm prints and one anthropramorph. The rang of styles, and sophistication of the artwork is impressive, the people who drew in these caves have every right to the designation of artist, their work is both skilled and evocative.
The term 'sacred space' is wholly appropriate for the cave, there is a sense of solemness and aw there, it is like a cathedral, a feeling that is only added too by the films often choral soundtrack. Director Herzog adds his signature poetic and raptures narration, and interviews with various scientists and researchers provide the historic context. This documentary was actually filmed in 3D which would have made it all the more impressive to view in a theater, but even without that added effect the visuals are magnificent, and the whole experience reverent and spiritual in nature. The Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a unique and meaningfull experience, film making of an almost wholly different type, and something that will stick with you, perhaps forever.
Great
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