When “The Spirit” and “Valkyrie” open this weekend, they have a lot of pushing back to do. “The Spirit” has been dogged by toxic word-of-mouth ever since Frank Miller’s trailer drew laughs at Comic-Con, and “Valkyrie” has been plagued with production problems, release-date switches and the image of Tom Cruise as a one-eyed German plotting to kill Hitler.
Still, who knows? Plenty of movies transcend their bad buzz or their packaging to deliver cracking entertainment. And for every one of those, there’s a movie that seems to have everything in place, but fails to seal the deal and actually be enjoyable. We thought it might be fun to take a look at some of those.
See it now at http://entertainment.sympatico.msn.ca/movies/galleries/MovieGallery.aspx?cp-documentid=15960475&imageindex=1
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Most Popular Movies - at Dec 2, 2008
1.High School Musical 3: Senior Year
(2008, Kenny Ortega, G)
How lovely the American high school experience might be if it offered even a smidgen of the euphoria in “High School Musical 3: Senior Year.”
2.Zack and Miri Make a Porno
(2008, Kevin Smith, R)
“Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” in spite of its lewdness, follows a gee-whiz romantic-comedy formula that would not be out of place on the Disney Channel.
3.Stages
(2007, Mijke DeJong, NR)
The phrase “divorced couple” sounds like an oxymoron, but there’s really no other way to describe the Dutch ex-spouses whose table talk dominates “Stages.”
4.Changeling
(2008, Clint Eastwood, R)
When it works best, “Changeling” is a feverish and bluntly effective parable of wronged innocence.
5.Synecdoche, New York
(2008, Charlie Kaufman, R)
To say that Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York” is one of the best films of the year is such a pathetic response to its soaring ambition that I might as well pack it in right now.
6.The Haunting of Molly Hartley
(2008, Mickey Liddell, PG-13)
God and Satan duke it out for the soul of a young girl in “The Haunting of Molly Hartley,” an unexpectedly cynical addition to the teen-scream genre.
7.Saw V
(2008, David Hackl, R)
The latest and least of the “Saw” films is just plain boring and even a little tame — albeit by the standards of a genre that helped bring the phrase “torture porn” into the lexicon.
8.I've Loved You So Long
(2007, Philippe Claudel, PG-13)
In the drama “I’ve Loved You So Long,” Kristin Scott Thomas’s furious honesty rules out easy, unearned redemption.
9.Quantum of Solace
(2008, Marc Forster, PG-13)
10.Let the Right One In
(2008, Tomas Alfredson, R)
“Let the Right One In” takes the morbid unhappiness of its young characters seriously.
(2008, Kenny Ortega, G)
How lovely the American high school experience might be if it offered even a smidgen of the euphoria in “High School Musical 3: Senior Year.”
2.Zack and Miri Make a Porno
(2008, Kevin Smith, R)
“Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” in spite of its lewdness, follows a gee-whiz romantic-comedy formula that would not be out of place on the Disney Channel.
3.Stages
(2007, Mijke DeJong, NR)
The phrase “divorced couple” sounds like an oxymoron, but there’s really no other way to describe the Dutch ex-spouses whose table talk dominates “Stages.”
4.Changeling
(2008, Clint Eastwood, R)
When it works best, “Changeling” is a feverish and bluntly effective parable of wronged innocence.
5.Synecdoche, New York
(2008, Charlie Kaufman, R)
To say that Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York” is one of the best films of the year is such a pathetic response to its soaring ambition that I might as well pack it in right now.
6.The Haunting of Molly Hartley
(2008, Mickey Liddell, PG-13)
God and Satan duke it out for the soul of a young girl in “The Haunting of Molly Hartley,” an unexpectedly cynical addition to the teen-scream genre.
7.Saw V
(2008, David Hackl, R)
The latest and least of the “Saw” films is just plain boring and even a little tame — albeit by the standards of a genre that helped bring the phrase “torture porn” into the lexicon.
8.I've Loved You So Long
(2007, Philippe Claudel, PG-13)
In the drama “I’ve Loved You So Long,” Kristin Scott Thomas’s furious honesty rules out easy, unearned redemption.
9.Quantum of Solace
(2008, Marc Forster, PG-13)
10.Let the Right One In
(2008, Tomas Alfredson, R)
“Let the Right One In” takes the morbid unhappiness of its young characters seriously.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Chinese top movies
HONG KONG — Hollywood's fighting cartoon panda is a hit in the furry animal's home country. The American animated movie Kung Fu Panda has made nearly $16 million at the Chinese box office as of Wednesday, according to its distributors.
Russian film named best at Shanghai fest
BEIJING, June 23 -- Russian director Vladimir Kott's "Mukha" received the Best Film award at the 11th Shanghai International Film Festival, which wrapped up on Sunday night. Chinese director Gao Qunshu's "Nick of Time" scored two awards - the jury award and Best Actor award for Ma Guowei's performance.
Romance in the bottle of horror
The Chinese movie market is running a bit light ahead of summer vocation. Hong Kong director Tsui Hark's new flick stands out. Famous for his action movies,Tsui is getting into horror movies for the first time. He took his inspiration from a sunken city that thrived over ten thousand years ago. Tsui learned about the city from a documentary. So let's see what it's about.
International film finance: China
BEIJING -- For people from outside looking to get in, China is not big on production incentives, but it is a dynamic market not without charm, and a lot of the country's most talented filmmakers are starting to come out from underground into the mainstream.
China's new screen master: Jia Zhangke
Cannes - Chinese director Jia Zhangke's haunting and unsettling portrayals of life in modern China would not appear to be the type of movies that the Beijing authorities like to see representing their country at the world's leading film festivals. But Jia's latest film 24 City, which recounts the lives of workers in a factory earmarked for demolition to make for a skyscraper, has been selected for the race to win the prestigious Palme d'Or award at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Russian film named best at Shanghai fest
BEIJING, June 23 -- Russian director Vladimir Kott's "Mukha" received the Best Film award at the 11th Shanghai International Film Festival, which wrapped up on Sunday night. Chinese director Gao Qunshu's "Nick of Time" scored two awards - the jury award and Best Actor award for Ma Guowei's performance.
Romance in the bottle of horror
The Chinese movie market is running a bit light ahead of summer vocation. Hong Kong director Tsui Hark's new flick stands out. Famous for his action movies,Tsui is getting into horror movies for the first time. He took his inspiration from a sunken city that thrived over ten thousand years ago. Tsui learned about the city from a documentary. So let's see what it's about.
International film finance: China
BEIJING -- For people from outside looking to get in, China is not big on production incentives, but it is a dynamic market not without charm, and a lot of the country's most talented filmmakers are starting to come out from underground into the mainstream.
China's new screen master: Jia Zhangke
Cannes - Chinese director Jia Zhangke's haunting and unsettling portrayals of life in modern China would not appear to be the type of movies that the Beijing authorities like to see representing their country at the world's leading film festivals. But Jia's latest film 24 City, which recounts the lives of workers in a factory earmarked for demolition to make for a skyscraper, has been selected for the race to win the prestigious Palme d'Or award at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Friday, June 6, 2008
2008 Interesting
Cloverfield
A surreptitiously subversive, stylistically clever little gem of an entertainment disguised, under its deadpan-neutral title, as a dumb Gen-YouTube monster movie, makes the convincingly chilling argument that the world will end — or, at least, Manhattan will crumble — with a bang and a whimper. The bang part, as millions who have seen the trailer already know, is supplied by the...thing...that arises on an otherwise peaceful May night to wreak destruction on New York City: He (She? It?) swats at skyscrapers and smashes NYC landmarks, abetted by tentacled mini-monsters that lunge directly at humans like voracious paparazzi. And when the military arrives to fight back, let's just say the troops opt for the all-out surge approach.
The ineffectual whimper of a handful of nobodies caught in the melee, though, is what's new in the old Godzilla formula — and also what's blackly funny. The doomed Gotham created by producer J.J. Abrams — he with the golden Felicity, Alias, and Lost touch — and his team is almost entirely populated by vapid, twenty-something nincompoops. Oops, I mean attractive, indistinguishable young people who handle cell phones, DV cameras, etc., with ease; call one another ''dude''; don't have anything interesting to say; and, perhaps as a result, don't listen to one another, even in an emergency. (The first 20 minutes is a great swath of character-establishing partying, nothing more — a masterstroke of lovingly staged banality.) The acting, by a cast of unknown dudes and dudettes, is appropriately unmemorable. There is, however, a nice simulation of panic as the gang sees the Statue of Liberty's head roll down the street.
A surreptitiously subversive, stylistically clever little gem of an entertainment disguised, under its deadpan-neutral title, as a dumb Gen-YouTube monster movie, makes the convincingly chilling argument that the world will end — or, at least, Manhattan will crumble — with a bang and a whimper. The bang part, as millions who have seen the trailer already know, is supplied by the...thing...that arises on an otherwise peaceful May night to wreak destruction on New York City: He (She? It?) swats at skyscrapers and smashes NYC landmarks, abetted by tentacled mini-monsters that lunge directly at humans like voracious paparazzi. And when the military arrives to fight back, let's just say the troops opt for the all-out surge approach.
The ineffectual whimper of a handful of nobodies caught in the melee, though, is what's new in the old Godzilla formula — and also what's blackly funny. The doomed Gotham created by producer J.J. Abrams — he with the golden Felicity, Alias, and Lost touch — and his team is almost entirely populated by vapid, twenty-something nincompoops. Oops, I mean attractive, indistinguishable young people who handle cell phones, DV cameras, etc., with ease; call one another ''dude''; don't have anything interesting to say; and, perhaps as a result, don't listen to one another, even in an emergency. (The first 20 minutes is a great swath of character-establishing partying, nothing more — a masterstroke of lovingly staged banality.) The acting, by a cast of unknown dudes and dudettes, is appropriately unmemorable. There is, however, a nice simulation of panic as the gang sees the Statue of Liberty's head roll down the street.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Review Cannes 2008: Review: The Exchange
In recent times, prospective Oscar candidates releasing their wares in the same year as a good Clint Eastwood movie might as well abandon hopes of nabbing the statuette. After seeing the grizzled helmer's latest - The Exchange - (or Changeling as it's been known up until a few days ago) -- we're inclined to believe this year may well be no exception. Indeed, Eastwood cheekily even includes a moment of reverence for the ceremony within. Set in Los Angeles in the late twenties, Angelina Jolie is Christine Collins, mother to a nine year-old lad Walter who goes missing from his home one weekend. Distraught, she naturally turns to the LAPD. Five months later they call and tell her that they've found her son. But when she goes to collect him, she claims she's never met the boy before and his doctors and teachers confirm that the child she's been given is not Walter. With a corrupt police force refusing to reopen the case she turns to church minister Reverend Briegleb (John Malkovich) and resolves to keep looking. Based on a true story, the film follows the case to its bitter end and Eastwood -- true to form - has no qualms about spending two and a half hours doing so. Yet a masterfully crafted narrative pace, and a simply revaltory stunning central performance from Jolie's guarantees total investment in the material.
As one of the world's most celebrated beauties, Jolie brings baggage to the screen by virtue of her celebrity that initially threatens to intrude on her portrayal of a suburban single mother. But she very quickly shrugs it off with confidence and questions about her believability in the role soon dissipate. It's no wonder; Christine is just the sort of strong, independent woman the actress loves playing, whether she's tackling independent drama or blockbusting action. Eastwood projects a luscious-looking and fully realized version of LA in the twenties that's in turns glamorous and grim, but the film's greatest success is in its attempt to capture the climate of the period. The complex politics of the corruption rife within the LAPD in the period are very quickly established and woven into the story with no overwrought attempt to impose modern judgements on the characters actions. Critics in Cannes will likely get straight to work questioning the director's politics, and there's no doubt that Eastwood chooses subject matter that engages him on more than just a superficial level. Whatever you think of the man's political views however, there'll be no question of Eastwood's talents as a master storyteller. Eastwood's recent run of form continues with The Exchange, which seems certain to be - at the very least - amongst the favourites come Oscar season.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)