Posts Tagged ‘film’

I have seen more films since having a baby than ever before. For the first six weeks, I stayed mainly at home with my family. Friends lent me box sets and I stayed on the sofa watching DVD’s and cuddled my newborn close.

Mr. H. and I became addicted to ‘Weeds’, the TV series starring Mary-Louise Parker. We have had to stop watching the show at bedtime because we realized the little guy was more interested in the plot than in feeding!

I was desperate to get my flick fix back on when my cousin D. told me about the joy that is baby cinema. It really is a wonderful concept and I now visit the movie theatre at least twice a month. Screenings are usually early in the day and are open to babies under the age of one with their parents or careers. It is incredibly comfortable with the lights not too low and the sound cranked up to the max so babies can scream!

D was kind enough to introduce me to her movie going mates who visit the historical Rio Cinema (previously Kingsland Empire) in East London.

Kingsland Empire, 1915

Rio Cinema, 2011

I have since been to many different places including Monday Morning Mommy Movies showing at Pacific Theatres at the Grove in Los Angeles, CA.

I am particularly fond of The Everyman cinema in chi-chi Belsize park. They do a fab baby club twice a week. The seats are double leather couch style seats are incredibly comfortable and you get a big slice of cake and coffee with every ticket. If you’re lucky you can even spot a celeb in the audience as well as on screen. What’s not to like?

It is a simple pleasure and one I formerly took for granted. I recently attended the red carpet premiere of the last film I shot and I struggled to stay in my seat for the duration because I was so heavily pregnant! Baby cinema is a genius idea that meets my cinephile needs!

Finally Christian Bale and Johnny Depp, two of today’s most talented actors, are in one movie together. Even though this amazing duo is seldom in the same scene, both add something special to a very sexy and dangerous crime film.

Michael Mann is the director and transports audiences back to an era when robbing banks was the choice money making scheme. “Enemies” is about Melvin Purvis (Bale) the head FBI agent responsible for bringing John Dillinger (Depp), Public Enemy #1, to justice. The accomplices of Depp and Bale are a remarkable cast of actors and really make this ‘cat and mouse chase’ movie complete. Whether you love a good crime film or not – “Public Enemies” is a great escape from summer movie sequels.

The Good: – The Ensemble – Making up an FBI department as well as a “gang” of bank robbers needs more than Depp and Bale. The support characters in “Enemies” are understated yet are key to filling out the atmosphere and feel of the movie. They are an impressive bunch and include: Marion Cotillard (Academy Award Winner for “La Vie en Rose”), David Wenham (“Australia”), Stephen Dorff, Channing Tatum (“Stop-Loss”), Rory Cochrane (“CSI: Miami”), Emilie de Ravin (“Lost”), Billy Crudup, Giovanni Ribisi (“Perfect Stranger”), Domenick Lombardozzi (“The Wire”), and Shawn Hatosy (“Southland”), are just a few of the immensely talented crew.

- The Camera Work – One of the characteristics that stands out the most in “Enemies” is the cinematography. The documentary style filming helps bring the audience into the story more – it isn’t simply watching a bank robber’s life develop, instead it’s getting to live Dillinger’s life with him. Purvis’ story benefits as well because when the camera focuses on him, no matter how much you’re cheering on Dillinger, you want Purvis to catch his man.

- The Look – Michael Mann and the creative team of “Enemies” bring back the distinct 1930’s aesthetics without having to actually recreate much. A lot of the movie was filmed at Dillinger historical spots that are still standing today. Many of the locations, such as the Little Bohemia Lodge where Dillinger and some of his cohorts were found by Purvis and the FBI and the local for one of the major gun battles featured in the movie, are real buildings that are still open.

- The Music – Elliot Goldenthal has created noteworthy scores for movies like “Across the Universe” and “Frida.” For “Enemies” he has combined bad-boy, bluegrass type tunes with music from the era as well as piano ballads to help complete the mood of this movie.

- Christian Bale – Bale’s “Purvis” is a serious guy. He doesn’t smile much during the movie (maybe once when he’s gunning down a famous gangster), but the seriousness works because it plays both to Bale’s assets as an actor as well as the tone of the Purvis character.

- Johnny Depp – Depp’s Dillinger combines sexiness with a sense of real danger. It’s subtle, but sometimes there is a sense that Dillinger truly fears for his life and is genuinely hurt at the loss of friends. I feel like I got to know John Dillinger a little better due to yet another exceptional performance by Depp.

The Bad: – The Time-Span – “Enemies” is over an hour and a half long and could have used a couple more edits in post production to cut down the time a bit.

- What is True – Scenes like Dillinger meandering through the “Dillinger” FBI Department without a soul identify him and scenes such as people on the street waving at Dillinger while being driven to prison as if he’s a celebrity yet he goes unrecognized in a lit movie theater makes me question how much of the film truly represents real events.

- Purvis Perspective – More glimpses into Purvis’ personal life and more of his point of view would have added symmetry and evenness to the movie.

In The End: “Public Enemies” is an exciting film about two Depression era legends – one – a bank robber and the other a bank robber hunter. The entire team who created “Enemies” should be very proud. The talent can be seen in every aspect of the film – from the camera work, to the score, to the costumes and best of all –  the actors.

“Blindness” is kind of a scary movie depicting the outbreak of a seemingly contagious illness that renders people blind. Understandably, the worst of humanity comes out. Mark Ruffalo, Julianne Moore, Danny Glover, Alice Braga, and Gael García Bernal are some of the actors that make up a group of quarantined individuals living in a vacant mental institution where, literally, the blind are leading the blind, with one exception, a Doctor’s wife who lies about being sick in order to stay with her husband (who is sick). 

“Blindness” is a unique epidemic film that can be admired for its take on the genre, the acting, as well as its views of humanity during such desperate times.   The Good: – Terrific Acting – One sign of a great actor is when they can make audiences hate them, love them, sympathize with them, etc.  “Blindness” features actors capable of bringing viewers into their world so much so that it’s impossible to sit back and submissively watch this movie.

- A Different Take on the “Disease” Film Genre – Within the portfolio of “disease contaminating society” films out there “Blindness” is special. The characters don’t actually die from the “white blindness” disease.  The illness in this movie doesn’t mean death, life as a zombie or other tragic fate – the illness isn’t necessarily the “bad guy.”

- The Tempo – “Blindness’” plot progresses at a nice pace. The audience learns about the disease and how the world is dealing with it at the same pace as the characters in the movie. The pacing is so that the deterioration of society and desperation are sincere – viewers aren’t thrown into chaos and expected to buy into it.

The Bad: - Not a Happy Movie – About 15 minutes of “Blindness” are happy and worthy of a smile, I could have used a little more.

- It’s Pretty Darn Realistic! – Unlike zombie or alien attack movies, “Blindness” is slightly more plausible, making it that much scarier. Seeing how people change and the terrible things they do in the movie makes me cross my fingers that something like this will never happen.

In The End: “Blindness” is a quality film in regards to the acting and plot, but won’t leave audiences with a warm and tingly feeling once it’s over.

The year is 2009.  Terminator: Salvation has been released.  The film itself…is not so black and white.

Not even shady gray. Yet, more like gleaming silver. Gleaming silver pistons of death ignited by the fiery optic pulse of powerhouse structures of machinery called Terminators. I digress…ah yes, the film.

In the film, the element of time is held to an astral plane; not immediately comprehensible in the context of the story. What’s defied is the linear logic of time, man and his offspring.

(Enters the realm of the machines).

The year is 2018. The lethal and exacting machine regime is at hand and presenting a dystopian state for the misnomered “resistance”:human extinction.

“Twilight”, the hit vampire movie based on the best selling series by Stephenie Meyer is now on DVD. The Summit Entertainment film grossed over $376 million Worldwide in theaters with the 4th largest gross for an opening weekend in 2008. But will the movie on DVD thrill movie watchers as much as it did while in theaters? Let’s uncover its secrets!

At Target stores there is a special edition DVD featuring 3 disks – the movie, a “Special Features” and a “Bonus Features” DVD and here are some of the features that “Twilight” fans won’t want to miss:

The Adventure Begins: The Journey from Page to Screen: A personal favorite due to a ton of interviews with many of the actors that make up the large cast.  Also, footage from movie set with commentary from a lot of the crew members like the director herself, a special effects tech, the casting director, screen writers and the author. I’m a movie geek who’s fascinated with “insider” information about how a film was made, so the “make of” feature really caught my attention. Even if you’re not a film geek you’ll still love the in-depth but not too technical look into this hit film.

If you’re a fan of the series you will love the interview with the humble author Stephenie Meyer. She talks about everything from how “Twilight” became an idea for a book, the mythology behind the creatures, her first fan letter and about when she became a New York Times best selling author.

Becoming Edward: Learn what actor Robert Pattinson thinks about his perfect and pained Edward Cullen. The fairly unknown (before Twilight) British actor reveals a lot about his various talents.

Becoming Bella: Listening to the movie director, screen writer and author describe Kristen Stewart you just know she is destined to be an award winning actor.  Stewart discusses who Bella is and how complicated she is. She repeats “I didn’t know what I was getting into until after I signed up to do the film.”

Piano Concert:  This special delight on the third DVD features Pattinson on the piano playing “Bella’s Lullaby.” The creative camera angles make the performance intriguing to watch.  The actor/musician gives new meaning to “tickling the ivories.”

You probably either like or don’t like Charlie Kaufman films. He’s the unconventional genius screenwriter behind greatly absurdist films like “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Adaptation,” and “Being John Malkovich,” that give your brain and your eyes a great feast but can also drive you crazy.

Kaufman’s got a supremely unique way of telling a story through its nonlinear narrative structure and visual oddities, which “Synecdoche, New York” has no shortage of.

His directorial debut is the story of Caden Cotard (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), a miserable small-town theater director whose unraveling psyche is complemented by his physical ailments. Both his mind and his body are deteriorating. His artist wife, Adele (Catherine Keener), finally leaves him by jetting off to Berlin for good with their young, precocious daughter, Olive.

Caden becomes platonically involved with Hazel, the box office girl, (Samantha Morton) who lives in a house that’s always engulfed in flames, and then he marries one of his actresses, Claire (Michelle Williams), and has a daughter with her but confuses her with Olive because he can never move on from his previous life.

Meanwhile Caden is awarded a MacArthur Foundation Grant and uses it to build a huge warehouse acting as a life-size replica for New York City, which he uses to figure out where he went wrong in his life. He begins production on a play by hiring characters to portray the people in his life – even himself − and he walks around the warehouse watching characters acting while he takes notes. Soon it becomes a story within a story within a story where replicas of Caden, Hazel, and Claire abound and intertwine.

The play never goes before an audience and Caden never finds happiness. It’s a depressing movie but also a really worthwhile movie with great, subtle performances and an even greater poignant message about our mortalities and how we should go about living before it’s too late.

You’ll be glad you visited “Synecdoche, New York.”

Every James Bond movie’s got a Bond girl. They’ll forever remain in the notorious Bond Girl club, but most are simply just known for their femme fatale roles. Where are they now? How did the Bond movies change their lives? Well, one’s a dame and another’s married to a Beatle. Here’s the scoop on some of the most famous Bond girls:

Honey Ryder (played by Ursula Andress) The original Bond girl and Swiss-born actress starred in Italian movies and dated Marlon Brando before coming to America where she married John Derek and starred in 1962’s Dr. No.  Her popularity subsequently rose, and she became a fixture of 1960s movies co-starring with Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Frank Sinatra and Woody Allen. The now 72-year-old had a son with now ex-boyfriend Harry Hamlin, a brief stint on Falcon’s Crest and last starred in an art-house movie in 2005.

Pussy Galore (played by Honor Blackman) The British-born actress’ most famous role of her career was 1964’s Goldfinger. Before that she starred in The Avengers and secondary roles, and afterwards she acted in mediocre films but earned rave reviews on stage. She had a one-woman stage show and up until about 10 years ago the now 81-year-old starred in the British TV show, The Upper Hand.

Traci di Vicenzo (played by Diana Rigg) The Bond girl of 1969’s Majesty’s Secret Service made quite an impression on England’s real majesty. In 1994, the now 70-year-old was made a dame by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to theater and film. Yet, the British actress most made her mark in the theater winning a Tony Award and collecting many other acting wins and nominations.

Anya Amasova (played by Barbara Bach) Besides being best known for her role in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me, Bach is also known for being married to the Beatles’ Ringo Starr since 1981. Before the movie, she starred in an Italian movie with two other Bond girls and after the movie the now 61-year-old starred in Force 10 from Navarone. She hasn’t worked in films since the mid 80s.

Vesper Lynd (played by Eva Green) The French-born actress was best known for European art house films before going on to play opposite Orlando Bloom in Kingdom of Heaven. Since 2006’s Casino Royale, the 28-year-old has appeared in The Golden Compass. Her voice is heard in Quantum of Solace, but she can next be seen in a movie about students at an elite British boarding school called Cracks opening next year.

Alright, here’s the skinny.  I am obsessed with Twilight.  I know, I know.  Vampires?  Honestly, I have never been obsessed with bloodsuckers (other than lawyers and politicians) until this fall (for reference, please see prior post on HBO’s True Blood). 

Something about this autumn got me (and seemingly everyone) into the whole un-dead scene.  For those that don’t know, Twilight is a book series by Stephanie Meyer.  The four books have done quite well in the post-Harry Potter tween/adult/horror/magical/romance/thing niche. 

I hitched a ride on the Vamp express quite late.  The first novel came out in 2005 and I didn’t read it until 2008.  I had thought I was above it, until a value and trusted friend (several, in fact) showed me the error of my ways.  After 30 pages, I was hooked.

The story, simply, revolves around Bella and her love affair with Edward.  Not only do the pair face the perils of everyday high school, they have to worry about Edward going one step too far and killing Bella as they lock lips. Yes, he’s a vampire.

Why should you care?  Good question.  Let me tell you:

1) The books, although long (too long in my mind–200 pages could easily be trimmed and the overall story tightened up in each book) are quick reads and mindless fun.

2) It’s this falls hottest new film.  Next Friday, girls and their mothers (and yes, me too) will be waiting in line for the premiere of the film.

Let’s hope it lives up to expectations!

Tyler Perry is a man of many titles: Playwright, Screenwriter, Director, Producer, Actor, and Author. He has a successful TV show, “House of Payne,” which is in syndication on TBS. Needless to say, he’s as influential (and prolific) a figure in black entertainment and his projects, good or bad, are always intriguing.

His latest rumored film is, by far, his most intriguing yet: a feature on polarizing baseball superstar, Barry Bonds. Perry is good friends with Bonds and knows him as a great father who loves his wife and really encourages and loves his friends. Unfortunately, what Bonds is most known for, outside of his record number of home runs, are the steroid allegations which have haunted and plagued his brilliant career.

Perry plans to highlight the steroid controversy in his film – from Bonds perspective. “That story has been told from everyone else’s point of view, but Barry has a different version. It’ll blow people’s minds when they see it from the real,” Perry says. That’s a significant development if their ever was one, sure to draw many Bonds fans to the box office; and, certainly, a large number of detractors as well.

As an ode to the recent election and passing campaign season, lets spotlight some Presidents featured on film.

President-elect Tom Dobbs in Man of the Year played by Robin Williams. Tom Dobbs was the host of a show similar to “The Daily Show” when one day, he was elected President. Even Dobbs couldn’t believe it. He campaigned for issues such as politicians being backed by special interest groups and speaking against banning gay marriage. Eventually Dobbs finds out that the voting machines had a bug in them and that he isn’t the President. He goes on SNL and announces he will not accept the Presidency.

President James Marshall in Air Force One played by Harrison Ford. Who knew a President would have to engage in hand to hand combat during his reign? Marshall is sort of a super hero President – strong in both his leadership capabilities and assailant capturing abilities. When “One” was released in 1997, Marshall was dealing with issues that our current President has faced – terrorists hijacking planes, capturing tyrannical leaders, etc. Guess it’s just all in a days work for the leader of the US – real or fictional.

President Andrew Shepherd in The American President played by Michael Douglas. A President up for re-election has a lot on his plate. Not only is he continuing his regular work schedule and planning a full blown campaign, but he’s also looking for love. Falling approval ratings don’t make Shepherd run and hide – instead during a vivid speech he poses a bill for the environment and promises to perfect a bill on crime (and without mispronouncing anything).

President Thomas J. Whitmore in Independence Day played by Bill Pullman. Nothing shakes up a Presidency like a war especially one with aliens. Whitmore faced slipping approval ratings when the beings from outer space landed. Whitmore takes Commander in Chief seriously when he boards a fighter plane and leads a team to an attack on the alien’s ship. Sadly the country’s leader looses his First Lady, but his plan helps save Earth and will probably make a re-election campaign much easier.

President Mays Gilliam in Head of State played by Chris Rock. In a much less serious Presidency see Mays Gilliam. Although chosen to eventually help someone else win in a later election, Gilliam is a likable man running against the sitting Vice President. Once negative ads start from his opponent, Gilliam starts to step up to the plate and brings his campaign into high gear even firing disloyal campaign aids. Gilliam is elected and becomes the first African American President.