A movie about (shooting at) garbage

The second, and later film from Jane Campion, In The Cut is not quite as “critically acclaimed,” as they say, but it should be. At least, it should be given more credit cinematically, since Campion perfects her already solid technique and creates a really impressive narrative, rich and cohesive, with elements swirling around in remarkable unity despite the appearance of chaos. Not wholly unlike The Piano, In The Cut delights – perhaps even finds its chief meaning – in turning conventionally accepted notions/expectations/commonplaces/pleasures on their heads. The first shot of the film from within Frannie’s (Meg Ryan) apartment shows the ambiguous image of small, lightweight, white objects falling from the sky. The immediate instinct is to assume it’s snow, although they seem too big to be snow. Soon thereafter we come to understand that it couldn’t be snow, considering the time of year and the weather. Later still, Frannie’s sister reveals to Frannie that they’re petal-like leaves falling from trees. Do not believe your eyes; this is largely the message of In The Cut. Appearances are deceiving, things aren’t what they seem, and so on.

Seeing ain't knowing

The strong identification, or character engagement, with Frannie attaches the viewer to her at the outset and almost never strays from her. Exceptions are momentary and wrought by narrative necessity. The suturing is stronger here with Frannie than it was with Ada in The Piano. Since this film adds the component of a whodunit? to its narrative, the film progresses better with the audience basically knowing only what Frannie knows. The dark aura that pervades the film affects the feel significantly, contributing to a post-idealistic urban setting, a dystopic microcosm, bound to highlight the sinister in society. The cops add to this vibe at least as much as anyone else, and rightly so, considering the course of the story. They’re fundamentally no different from any other members of society, as much potential suspects as anyone else, as much scumbags, as much sleep-buddies.

No Blade Runner, but still dark

Frannie and her sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) stand as possible opposites, the independent woman and the dependent woman, respectively. Pauline’s pathetic stalking of a married man, her shameless fatal attraction to him leading to a restraining order, contrasts extremely with Frannie, who rarely ever dates and is constituted by a lack of desire for another. Her regular meetings with a handsome and hungry student lead to him punishing her for being a “bitch” – that is, being a woman who will not let herself be desired, will not return the gaze that caters to the desiring man. When Frannie finally does couple with a man, that coupling is defined by a reversal of traditional roles. Malloy (Mark Ruffalo) tells Frannie that he will be “anything you want me to be,” and so on. The relationship exists on her terms, for her pleasure. He willingly submits to her control, and her desire is not a desire for him, but rather for naked fulfillment. In a word, she uses him, and he knows it. All the while, she suspects him of committing the crime that is the catalyst for the film’s central mystery.

Sadistic

Having firsthand knowledge of the key piece of evidence needed to solve the crime, she withholds it. She seems to do this in order (1) to draw out the satisfaction she can experience through Malloy and (2) to solve the crime herself. Regarding the second, her day job as a high school teacher makes her an authority figure, a woman with knowledge and power. The meetings with her student are for the purpose of learning street vernacular from him so that she can give a more accurate portrait of urban life in the book she is writing. This is another instance in which Frannie uses a male for her own ends rather than letting herself be used, rebelling against gender norms. Regarding (1), it is important to note that the pleasure she experiences from Malloy is directly related to her suspicion that he is the murderer. Their romance is marked by sadism. After being mugged in an alley, Malloy has Frannnie re-stage the mugging in her apartment,  with him posing as the mugger. They do not get very far into the reenactment before arousing one another through the suggestion of violence. Toward the film’s finale, Frannie handcuffs Malloy to the wall in her apartment and proceeds to discover what appears to be incriminating evidence in his jacket pocket. The ensuing events leave Malloy stranded, cuffed to the wall like an animal as he becomes angrier and angrier. Once again, there is no question here concerning with whom the power lies. The climax in the following sequence has Frannie seizing the instrument of violence and overcoming the male villain.

Imprisoned

That climax is the second scene in which Frannie interacts with blood to a rather heavy degree. In the first, she enters a space that is extremely bloody, a space that happens to be the most intimate space of her sister’s, the bathroom where she has been murdered. This room is a sort of primal cave, penetrated through a violation of the worst kind, perhaps even on par with a violation into the womb. The bathroom already figures as the most personal, intimate space in a domicile. When Frannie enters it, not only is the evidence of the murder spread everywhere for her to see, but her sister is literally spread everywhere for her to see. This is an intrusion of the most violent sort, and Frannie walks straight into it, voluntarily surrounding herself with the bloody evidence. She is distraught, but also fearless and angry. In this way, the scene is somewhat reminiscent of the “castration” scene in The Piano.

Violated

It’s also reminiscent of that scene in another way, however. Right off, perhaps the main difference between the two scenes is that in The Piano, the act of violence is being done to Ada herself, whereas in In The Cut the act of violence has been done to Frannie’s sister. Returning, however, to the earlier point about Frannie and Pauline acting as opposites on the feminine spectrum (in terms of established archetypes or stereotypes), could they not essentially “be” the same person? There is, after all, a blurry line separating an opposite from a double. Consider not only the idea of two warring sides of a person embodies in two separate persons (something that wouldn’t be original to this film), but also the otherwise strange plot element of Pauline’s murder. Why, exactly, is she murdered? She and the murderer have never met and have no reason to meet. Their encounter only takes place as a direct result of Frannie getting a lift to her sister’s apartment. Pauline’s murder is an act supremely premeditated not only in terms of the murder itself but also in terms of the murdered person’s identity. Unless Frannie and Pauline essentially constitute two sides of the same person (from a thematic point of view), Pauline’s murder is a hole in the plot; it makes little or no sense.

Faker

If she – Frannie/Pauline – is the same person, however, then Malloy and Rodriguez (his partner) are also the same person. The two cops are partners. They work together and even hang out at the bar together. Frannie and Pauline are sisters – stepsisters, to be exact. They share the same father and spend a good deal of time together. Within the film, they’re defined in terms of one another; their identities are only clear in relation to one another. The same applies to the two cops. It’s in the bar that the difference between the two cops becomes most apparent. It’s there in the bar where Malloy tells Frannie how he’s willing to be whatever she wants him to be. Moments later Rodriguez makes some shockingly misogynistic comments (to say the least) about women that stand in polar opposition to Malloy’s words. Perhaps most importantly, it is their shared tattoo that creates the main misunderstanding fueling the film’s mystery.

Incriminated

Further still, recount the sadistic relationship that Frannie and Malloy share, and how that sadism plays out in their desires. Perhaps in this case, seeing Frannie-Malloy as “polar opposites” of Pauline-Rodriguez isn’t appropriate. Rather, significant overlap between the different couples makes them in some ways more similar than different. Another one of these overlaps concerns the guns of the two officers. We learn earlier in the film that Rodriguez carries a bright yellow squirt gun on his belt in place of a real firearm on account of losing his gun privilege due to – NB! – his wife taking the gun and using it. After cuffing Malloy to the wall, Frannie takes his gun with her (a second theft of a police gun by a woman) and rides off in Rodriguez’s car, though he is unaware that she is carrying. Her victory over him by means of a gun not only concludes the cycle for Rodriguez’s character of losing his gun to a woman (yes, folks, that’s castration), but Frannie’s theft of the gun from Malloy solidifies his status, already strongly hinted at, of being a male without an instrument of power.

Coming out bloody & on top

This is the kind of frustrating yet gratifying film that feeds on its own interpretation. The more that one sees in it, exponentially more will spring up before one’s eyes. Precious few films can submit to – what a terrible word; how about, “permit” – this kind of a reading without having violence done to them. In The Cut is a deceptively simple film, one that appears disturbing and complex but that is in fact very tight and coherent. It’s as much a Western as anything else, except in reverse. There are a hero and a villain, but instead of knowing who they are at the beginning, we aren’t fully sure until the end. Someone saves the day, but instead of fortifying established norms, the film challenges them and turns them over. At this point I’m struck with the realization that I’ve said nothing here about Frannie’s very interesting and imagined “flashbacks” to her father’s proposal to her mother and how violence fits into those. We could point to the identification between the primal, blood, and the woman that was already explored in the bathroom scene. Certainly issues of parenthood are of importance to this film, not only via the proposal flashbacks and constant talking about their father but also through the bracelet Pauline gives Frannie, suggesting Frannie as a mother. That the baby carriage breaks off of her bracelet while Frannie overcomes her mugger seems to solidify the possibility that Frannie is abandoning the maternal notion of Woman for something more powerful and independent. While there’s plenty more to discuss about this, time and space presently forbid it.

Castrated mother?

She came, she saw, she conquered

Johnson is the writer/director of Brick and more recently The Brothers Bloom.  He’s made two films, one is very good, the other is good.  I just caught The Brothers Bloom for the first time this past week and despite the fact that the movie is just good, it gave me the unquestioning belief that Rian Johnson is going to make a really amazing movie one day.

He’s two for two on not making bad movies, and that’s a lot harder than it sounds.  The reason I think he’s eventually going to step out from the really-good-but-not-amazing-cult-movie-followed by-good-little-commercial-films-tract (The R.G.B.N.A.C.M.F.B.G.L.C.F. Tract) that he’s on right now is just how well put together The Brothers Bloom is.

Make no mistake, there are huge issues with the movie.  Like Brick, the characters just exist, there is practically no progression nor characterization–these two kids have always been con artists, one of them writes up the incredibly elaborate cons, the other reluctantly plays along, GO!  The thing is, none of those mistakes are caused by Rian Johnson the director.  They are all caused by Rian Johnson the screenwriter.  Each individual shot is flawlessly constructed and every five or ten minutes there’s a shot that makes you want to pause the movie and just stare at it for a while.

The guy knows how to shoot a movie, and he also knows how to write individual scenes.  There are some really great dialogue moments throughout the film.  His problems don’t come from inability to write interesting scenes; his problems come from inability to construct round characters that change and adapt to the larger story as it goes along, rather than just coming up with some people and throwing them into a situation.

So check out The Brothers Bloom if you haven’t already.  Not because it’s a great movie, because it will probably get you excited for Johnson’s next.  Hopefully one that he directs from someone else’s script, with a few tweaks, of course.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE opening 11th of December at S.G.C. DUNGARVAN.

Synopsis: Innovative director Spike Jonze collaborates with celebrated author Maurice Sendak to bring one of the most beloved books of all time to the big screen in “Where the Wild Things Are,” a classic story about childhood and the places we go to figure out the world we live in. The film tells the story of Max, a rambunctious and sensitive boy who feels misunderstood at home and escapes to where the Wild Things are. Max lands on an island where he meets mysterious and strange creatures whose emotions are as wild and unpredictable as their actions. The Wild Things desperately long for a leader to guide them, just as Max longs for a kingdom to rule. When Max is crowned king, he promises to create a place where everyone will be happy. Max soon finds, though, that ruling his kingdom is not so easy and his relationships there prove to be more complicated than he originally thought.

Starring: Paul Dano, Forest Whitaker, Mark Ruffalo, Catherine Keener, Catherine O’Hara, Max Records, Lauren Ambrose, James Gandolfini, Chris Cooper

Director: Spike Jonze

- John David

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE opening 11th of December at MAYO MOVIE WORLD CINEMA .

Synopsis: Innovative director Spike Jonze collaborates with celebrated author Maurice Sendak to bring one of the most beloved books of all time to the big screen in “Where the Wild Things Are,” a classic story about childhood and the places we go to figure out the world we live in. The film tells the story of Max, a rambunctious and sensitive boy who feels misunderstood at home and escapes to where the Wild Things are. Max lands on an island where he meets mysterious and strange creatures whose emotions are as wild and unpredictable as their actions. The Wild Things desperately long for a leader to guide them, just as Max longs for a kingdom to rule. When Max is crowned king, he promises to create a place where everyone will be happy. Max soon finds, though, that ruling his kingdom is not so easy and his relationships there prove to be more complicated than he originally thought.

Starring: Paul Dano, Forest Whitaker, Mark Ruffalo, Catherine Keener, Catherine O’Hara, Max Records, Lauren Ambrose, James Gandolfini, Chris Cooper

Director: Spike Jonze

- John David

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE opening 11th of December at S.G.C. ENNISCORTHY.

Synopsis: Innovative director Spike Jonze collaborates with celebrated author Maurice Sendak to bring one of the most beloved books of all time to the big screen in “Where the Wild Things Are,” a classic story about childhood and the places we go to figure out the world we live in. The film tells the story of Max, a rambunctious and sensitive boy who feels misunderstood at home and escapes to where the Wild Things are. Max lands on an island where he meets mysterious and strange creatures whose emotions are as wild and unpredictable as their actions. The Wild Things desperately long for a leader to guide them, just as Max longs for a kingdom to rule. When Max is crowned king, he promises to create a place where everyone will be happy. Max soon finds, though, that ruling his kingdom is not so easy and his relationships there prove to be more complicated than he originally thought.

Starring: Paul Dano, Forest Whitaker, Mark Ruffalo, Catherine Keener, Catherine O’Hara, Max Records, Lauren Ambrose, James Gandolfini, Chris Cooper

Director: Spike Jonze

- John David

Alternando su reciente faceta de documentalista con la de productor de cine y realizador de TV, el maestro del costumbrismo contémporaneo, el futuro ganador del Cecil B. DeMille en los próximos Golden Globes, el gran Martin Scorsese, se prepara para una grata sorpresa. Y la sorpresa es su regreso al género del terror y el suspenso.

Para los que no recuerden Cape Fear y su magnífico DeNiro, Martin Scorsese en 1991 adaptó la novela de John D. MacDonald y junto a él, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange y la jovencita Juliette Lewis armaron lo que para mi es un claro ejemplo de suspenso donde el cruento enfrentamiento entre DeNiro y su abogado defensor, Nolte, nos dejó petrificados en nuestras sillas. Para ese entonces Juliette Lewis caracterizaba a una jovencita casi de la misma edad mía; en ese entonces no concebía muy bien la diferencia de edades y pues me parecía un acto de seducción medianamente normal. Vista uno o dos veces después, el acto pedófilo se hizo más evidente y alimentó mi morbo en esta peli en particular. No hay cabida para ser tan macabro como lo fue DeNiro y tan genialmente malvado como Scorsese para lograr esta factura. La maldición de Scorsese, y de paso la de DeNiro, era la de arrasar en nominaciones y no ganar absolutamente nada (una gran injusticia con este par de monstruos), esta no fue la excepción. Qué buen guión, qué buena factura, qué actuaciones, etc… Y nada. Al final la revelación de Lewis y su virginal papel, le conllevaron dos premios y una nominación a nivel independiente.

Scorsese se prepara para un nuevo atardecer, de la mano de un reparto sencillamente impresionante, de Robert Richardson veterano de mil batallas en cinematografía al lado de Oliver Stone, el mismo Scorsese y recientemente visto en los basterdos de Tarantino, y de Thelma Shoonmaker editora que no sólo es una ganadora impresionante de óscares sino casi la mano derecha de Scorsese en todo su portafolio de largometrajes.

Apunta a ser escalofriante, impresionante, tenebrosa, ojalá muy gore y de una factura impecable. Que se lleve sus buenos premios y que Scorsese como es caballero repita Oscar como es debido.

Leonardo DiCaprio (Teddy Daniels)
Mark Ruffalo (Chuck Aule)
Ben Kingsley (Dr. John Cawley)
Michelle Williams (Dolores Chanal)
Max von Sydow (Dr. Jeremiah Naehring)
Jackie Earle Haley (George Noyce)
Elias Koteas (Andrew Laeddis)
John Carroll Lynch (Deputado Warden McPherson)

*No encontré el papel de Patricia Clarkson en IMDb y no lo he podido encontrar en ningún otro lado :-S

Com um roteiro espetacular e atuações fantásticas, o filme mostra as lembranças que um homem pensa que quer esquecer

Por Rodrigo Gianesi

Você apagaria alguém e qualquer coisa que você viveu ao lado dessa pessoa de sua memória? O filme Brilho Eterno de uma Mente sem Lembranças explora essa pergunta. Joel (Jim Carrey) e Clementine (Kate Winslet) formam um casal de pessoas que não têm nada em comum, algo normal em vários filmes de romance. Porém, a abordagem deste filme dirigido por Michel Gondry é completamente diferente e intrigante.

Joel é tímido e metódico, enquanto Clementine é extrovertida, diferente e completamente impulsiva. Essa sua última característica a leva a, após terminar seu relacionamento com Joel, procurar a Lacuna INC., uma clínica que oferece um tratamento peculiar: apagar pessoas da mente de outras. Ao descobrir que sua ex-namorada o apagou de sua memória, Joel vê o mundo desabar, e, em um momento de desespero, procura o mesmo tratamento. Durante o procedimento, no qual os técnicos vasculham o cérebro do paciente apagando memória por memória, Joel vê todos os momentos em que passou ao lado de sua namorada, se arrepende de sua escolha e tenta voltar atrás, se escondendo em lugares remotos de suas lembranças.

Filme conta com grande elenco, com Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst e Elijah Wood

Em mais um roteiro alucinante de Charlie Kaufman (que escreveu também Quero Ser John Malkovich), o filme vai e volta no tempo através das lembranças de Joel com interpretações fantásticas, não só dos protagonistas Jim Carrey (que provou, mais uma vez, que não é apenas um ótimo comediante, mas um ator excelente e versátil) e Kate Winslet, mas também boas atuações de todos os atores que compõem esse ótimo elenco, que conta com Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst e Elijah Wood.

Brilho Eterno de uma Mente sem Lembranças é uma história linda que mostra que, não importa o que você faça, você não pode esquecer um amor. Ao ver o filme me lembro de uma frase de Nelson Rodrigues: “Todo amor é eterno. Se acabou, não era amor”.

Antes de responder a pergunta feita no começo deste texto, assista ao filme, e você perceberá que, não importa quão dolorosa tenha sido a separação, um amor nunca deve ser esquecido.

Brilho Eterno de uma Mente sem Lembranças (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind): 2004, EUA. Direção: Michel Gondry. Elenco: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood. Roteiro: Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, Pierre Bismuth. Duração: 108 minutos.

Notas:

Rodrigo Gianesi [10] Ronnie Romanini [10] Paulo do Valle [9.5]

Nossa média: [9.8]

I learned this sentence in the movie In the Cut. The tough guy (delicious Mark Ruffalo) says the following to the woman:

Not all the women have a sense of cock

Detective Malloy, or Mark Ruffalo, doesn’t sound arrogant at all when he says that. He almost sounds desperate. Sort of “I wish all women had a sense of cock”. I kept it in my mind. I love that sentence.

I had a friend in Spain with whom I could talk openly about sex, she is one of a kind. She told me once that it took her a while to understand that she didn’t have to like sucking the cocks of all her lovers, that she liked ones more than others. What she meant, I think, is the opposite to the above:

Not all the cocks have a sense of mouth

If my friend had said that, she would have sound pissed off, ’cause she told me stories in which the guy would sort of blame her for a bad blow job. That way guys use sometimes to express dissatisfaction, yes, that was familiar to me too. I suppose that women have also a way to express it, but I haven’t talk about this with any male friend.

As good as having a sense of cock & pussy & mouth (and we could go on naming, couldn’t we?…), is great  to be honest & opened, to enjoy what is given, and to know that everything in this life has its match.

Would write more about it… I’ll keep some ideas to myself.

(In the Cut, very well directed by Jane Champion, based in a novel by Susanna Moore, with the sexiest actresses ever, Jennifer Jason Leigh)

Finally! A confirmed UK release! Probably in May. Which is ages away. And the DVD is already out in America. I’ll wait. Because I want to see it on a big screen first time.

The Brothers Bloom is the second film from writer/director Rian Johnson, the creator of Brick, my favourite film in the whole wide world. It is a con-man/heist film starring Mark Ruffalo, Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, Rinko Kikuchi and Robbie Coltrane.

Wait, what? Why has this only just been confirmed for a UK release, you ask? Why has a film with a bankable mainstream star like Mark Ruffalo that cost a decent amount not been pushed here? A film that stars two Oscar winners in Adrien Brody and Rachel Weisz, plus another (Maximillian Schell) and a recent nominee (Rinko Kikuchi), from a critically acclaimed writer/director, whose first film made more money in the UK than it did in the US?

What the hell, Summit?! Too busy with your little vampires to spare a thought for the rest of us and find a UK distributor?

This really has me puzzled. Is this merely an issue of UK audiences, or the producers focussing on the Twilight movies, or what?

In other news, Johnson has also created a tumblr for his next film, a sci-fi/gangster flick called Looper. There’s some interesting bits and pieces about Looper floating around, not least the little quotations and images on the tumblr account. I’m excited already!

David

This is amazing!, MySpace users  around Australia will be treated to a special pre-release Black Curtain screening of ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ on November 30th for FREE (YES YOU READ CORRECTLY…FOR FREE!). All this 4 days before its official national release on December 3rd the ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ Black Curtain screening will give MySpace fans around the country the opportunity to be some of the first in Australia to see this iconic tale of childhood  and self discovery translated  to the screen.

How you can get the tickets?…IS VERY SIMPLE!:
The only way MySpace users can attend an exclusive preview screening of Where the Wild Things Are is by befriending the Black Curtain profile (www.myspace.com/blackcurtainau) where from 4pm on Tuesday November 24^th, they will find a code to SMS in order to be sent a unique ticket to their mobile. This preview screenings will taking place in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

Based on one of the most beloved books of all time, “Where the wild things are” tells the story of Max, a rambunctious and sensitive boy who feels misunderstood at home and escapes to where the Wild Things are.  Max lands on an island where he meets mysterious and strange creatures whose emotions are as wild and unpredictable as their actions.  The Wild Things desperately long for a leader to guide them, just as Max longs for a kingdom to rule.  When Max is crowned king, he promises to create a place where everyone will be happy. Max soon finds, though, that ruling his kingdom is not so easy and his relationships there prove to be more complicated than he originally thought.

Starring Max Records, Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo, Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, James Gandolfini, Catherine O’Hara and Forest Whitaker, “Where the Wild Things Are” is directed by Spike Jonze from a screenplay by Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers, based on the book by Maurice Sendak.

So, what are you waiting for?…be ready for the final countdown on Black Curtain and be ready to msn the code. Be the first to watch this big blockbuster!.

If you are not a myspace member, just go to www.myspace.com and create an account, is really simple! and start to enjoy the benefits!, and of course become a friend of Black Curtain to have the chance of be part of this screenings and the future ones!

Wanna see more about this movie?…just watch the trailers here!

GOOD ONE MYSPACE!

(This idea blatantly stolen from France, FTW!)

Current Books: Can I tell you a secret? It takes me forever to read a book. I always have several going at one time and it can take me years (hello, The Fountainhead) to finish one. Right now I’m in the middle of Dead Until Dark, The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon and A Homemade Life.

Current Playlist: I’m always adding to my beats playlist and recently started compiling a Christmas playlist. Recent iTunes purchase include ’Till I Collapse (Eminem), Forever (Drake), Replay (Iyaz), Go Tell It On the Mountain (Jim Nabors) and Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree (Brenda Lee). Yes, I’m kind of a Top 40 whore.

Current Guilty Pleasure: Hershey’s Kisses at work. I don’t usually eat sweets at the office, but my boss bought me a bag and I can’t say no to Hershey’s chocolate.

Current Color: Black. When in doubt, I always go for black. Or green (but not dark green).

Current Drink: Water, Mountain Dew (I allow myself one can a day during the week) and this fantastic raspberry pomegranate juice I found last week at the grocery store. SO good.

Current Food: I’ve been eating a lot of pasta e ceci over the past 10 days. I’m also obsessed with Snyder’s of Hanover Sourdough Nibblers.

Current Favorite Show: I can never pick a favorite. Also, please don’t judge me based on my fascination with “reality” stars. That said, these days I always tune in to Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew, The Real Housewives of Orange County, The Hills, Fringe, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters.

Current Wishlist: A car made in this decade. King-size flannel sheets. A bed frame. T-shirts from mental_floss.

Current Needs: Nada

Current Triumphs: Taking care of the car situation by myself without hyperventilating. Actually, taking care of just about everything by myself  since September 14.

Current Bane Of My Existence: Brian being away. I’m sure you’re all sick of hearing about it, but it’s true.

Current Celebrity Crush: Ed Westwick, Mark Ruffalo, Joshua Jackson … and mayyyyyyybe Justin Bobby. That guy is a total dbag, but way easy on the eyes.

Current Indulgence:  Is this different than my current guilty pleasure? OK, pizza rolls and ice cream. I’m trying to clear out all the bad (read: unhealthy) crap from my freezer … by eating it.

Current Blessing: My whole life is a blessing. Love, work, food on the table and a roof over my head.

Current Slang: A compendium of words and phrases I’ve picked up over the years. Examples include “super pissed with cheese” and “your mom.”

Current Outfit: Black North Face fleece jacket, magenta V-neck sweater, jeans, Montrail hiking boots

Max, the hero of Where The Wild Things Are, is having fun early in the film in a snowball fight. It’s a freewheeling, wonderful action scene, where his sister’s friends attempt to pelt him back as hard as they can, and Max giggles with glee– this is what winter fun is about as a child. Then, one of his sister’s friends caves in his snowbase where he was hiding, and on a dime, Max is terrified, cold, and betrayed. What Spike Jonze gets about childhood throughout the film, and what makes Where The Wild Things Are such a beautiful, melancholy experience, is that while we remember it as this magical carefree time, the opposite is true– children care more strongly than we jaded adults do. We trust completely, we love completely, we give ourselves over to our feelings and our experiences with total abandon, and thus our strong emotions switch quickly.  My emotions weren’t switching while watching the film– I was enraptured the entire time.

The story, adapted from a book which contains only ten sentences, centers in on Max (Max Records), a kid who feels his sister and mom don’t pay him enough attention, and after a bratty confrontation with his mom where he bites her, he runs away, hops on a boat, and sails to the land of the Wild Things. He meets Carol (voiced by James Gandolfini), the leader of the pack, an impulsive frustrated monster. Along with him are his friends, Ira (Forest Whitaker), Judith (Catherine O’Hara), Alexander (Paul Dano), Douglas (Chris Cooper), and the silent Bull. Finally, there’s K.W. (Lauren Ambrose), a loner who takes long ventures out to meet other creatures, which angers Carol, who is focused on trying to keep the whole group together as best friends forever.

Roger Ebert said in his review of The Polar Express, “”The Polar Express” has the quality of a lot of lasting children’s entertainment: It’s a little creepy. Not creepy in an unpleasant way, but in that sneaky, teasing way that lets you know eerie things could happen. There’s a deeper, shivery tone…a world of its own, like “The Wizard of Oz” or “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” in which the wise child does not feel too complacent.” Spike Jonze achieves the exact same effect here. When Max first arrives, the monsters threaten to eat him. We as trained audience members feel this is an empty threat– after all, little boys don’t die in movies like this. A few minutes later, we see a pile of bones, unmistakably made up of their previous leaders who displeased them. Complacency is immediately tossed out the window. These monsters aren’t just nice friends, they’re real threats who could turn on Max if things go awry. The label of “wild thing” isn’t handled with kiddie gloves.

Yet the film never loses its realistic depiction of childishness. Max, like real children, can be a brat if he feels neglected or scorned. He bites his mother and stomps around– it’d be easy to judge this character at this point in the film if we totally lost the ability to look back at our own younger days, to the stories our parents told us about things we did as children that we would be horrified to see nowadays. When he encounters the monsters, all he wants to do with them are the same things he would do at home– run around, jump, dig holes, build makeshift “homes” outdoors. He wants everyone to sleep together in a real pile, because let’s be honest, if you saw a bunch of big fuzzy monsters like that, you’d darn sure want to hug them. The monsters exhibit this childishness as well. Carol is temperamental, Judith is pouty and doubtful, Ira is a pushover, Alexander seeks attention, and Douglas is trustworthy and reliable. When Carol introduces Max to Douglas and says, “I count on him for everything,” there was a simple beauty and childish honesty to the delivery that made my eyes well up.

Perhaps I’m the wrong person to review this, since I found the book so perfect as a kid, so there’s a sense of sentimentality that I immediately place on the material. However, I think this is the rare movie that should fully please fans of the book. Usually, fans of a book whine about things left out of the film adaptation, and I write a review insisting that we must remove our devotion to the core material’s particulars in order to see if the movie captured the essence of the book the best way that it could– simply put, is it a good movie, book be damned? Here is the exact opposite scenario: a book has had tons of material added to its ten-sentence story, and I think that every single bit added captures the essence flawlessly. The script, by Jonze and Dave Eggers, can also be interpreted to give the monsters various symbolic meanings and interpretations, though for me such additional scholarly endeavors are unnecessary; the characters stand on their own without any added symbolism.

Jonze’s effects work (a combination of real puppet bodies and some CGI face work) is a revelation in a time when CGI is thrown haphazardly around– here is a director who wanted the child actor to be able to touch, hug, and interact with real wild things, and the decision absolutely paid off. Max Records is a natural, lacking the put-on precociousness most child actors have. The production design and cinematography are easily among the best of the year. This is simply one of those films where every element is combined with such unity of vision that it does more than create a new world… it creates a new reality. There’s not a moment of the film that fails to ring true. And if when Max sets out to leave the Land of the Wild Things, you don’t tear up at his goodbyes with his magical wild friends, you need to thaw out your ice-cold heart. Instead of manipulating your emotions, this fantasy earns them. This is one of the best movies of the year.

Oh Tina Fey, how I love her character.  Likely she’s going to receive even more backlash for playing that same character again, but that’s her shtick.  I’m really looking forward to this movie.  It’ll be like Thursday night on NBC, except I’ll be paying money.  Honestly though, this movie does look very funny.  These two are hilarious and I look forward to watching them play off each other.  It looks like they have no chemistry, but I think that’s going to make everything a lot more fun.

And look at the rest of the cast.  (BTW, I’ve put the actors and actresses that I like in the tags section, that way I don’t have to mention them every time.)

Click picture to watch teaser.

From Apple.

Or try First Showing.

- izi

Substitute “wild” for “mild”…

Starring Max Records, Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo and the voices of James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Catherine O’Hara, Forest Whitaker, Chris Cooper, and Lauren Ambrose. Directed by Spike Jonze. Based on the childrens book by Maurice Sendak

Wow. They kinda sucked the fun out of this one.

It’s been forever since I’ve read Maurice Sendak’s book. My dad read it to me and my brother when we were younger and I vaguely remember enjoying it (as well as the “Reading Rainbow” segment on it). It’s this childhood fondness that drove my want to see Jonze’s movie adaptation of the 1963 classic.

No offense, but I’ll take my “childhood memory” over the movie.

Max is one lonely kid: his older sister Claire is more interested in her friends than paying any attention to him. His mother (Keener) is a stressed-out single mom trying to deal with her job and life as well as the lives of her kids. One night while having a dinner date (with Mark Ruffalo) Max acts up: he screams, climbs the table, stomps on it, fights and eventually bites his mom before running out the door, down the street, and disappearing from sight.

Max finds his way to the water and climbs into a small boat where he heads out into the water and ventures for parts unknown. From the ocean he spots a light in the forest. Might as well check it out…

Scaling up a cliff he wanders into the forest toward the light where he hides, watching the “Things.” One of them, Carol (Gandolfini), is walking around destroying all their huts. Max jumps out into the open and convinces them not to eat him and that he’s a king who conquered vikings. Lacking any real leadership they make him their king. He promises a new world, new adventures, etc., and they take him for his word.

And let me discuss the “Things” for a moment: they’re morose. It would be like a party of severely depressed people trying to “out Eeyore” Eeyore (the melancholic donkey from “Winnie the Pooh”). Yeah, that fun. There’s the headstrong Carol (Gandolfini), the whining Judith (O’Hara), her bore-holes-in-trees partner Ira (Whitaker), low-esteem goat Alexander(Dano), Douglas the chicken (Cooper), and K W (Ambrose) a woman who seeks advice from owls Bob and Terry.

Max proposes an idea to bring everyone together: build a fort that only they can get into. It’ll have a secret underground entrance and a machine that will scoop out the brains of anyone who dares to enter without their consent. Happily they all come together and begin working on fortress.

As a “team-building” exercise, Max declares dirt-clod war, dividing the group into two. They all begin to have fun until someone gets hurt and Max’s position comes into question and his power falters. Max must come to terms and grow up or face the threat of being eaten by Carol.

Maybe in hoping for something great I faulted myself on this one. I wanted something more uplifting, something to remember being a kid and enjoying the book. I didn’t get that from this movie. The
“Things” and Max were stunted in his age-mentality. Maybe that’s what Jonze was going for.

The movie isn’t entirely depressing. There were happy moments but for the most part it’s a depressing movie. Not bittersweet but humbly sad.

If I can say anything good about the film, it’s technically amazing. With CG blending in with animatronics from the Jim Henson company (creators of “The Muppets”), the “Things” are incredible to watch. Jonze went above and beyond in creating characters, nay, a world all to itself. Maybe he gave us all a bit more to chew on then we wanted.

I find this movie tough to suggest. It’s well-made but if you’re looking for sweet, charming, whimsical,
uplifting, and overall warm-fuzziness, it’s not to be had in this one. I’m just sayin’.

My grade: B- (with points for technical achievement)

The worst part about Hollywood is when a movie assembles a great cast but manages to turn all that gold into a giant pile of poop. Even more confusing is when that movie clearly has a ridiculous premise to begin with, thus begging the question of how all those great cast members ended up signing on to a clearly absurd project?

Are there some magic string-pullers out there in California who are just so amazing at pitching ideas they convinced the cast of Mars Attacks that it would be a great movie? “It’s Tim Burton! Just say yes!”

I wonder these things mainly because I am an unabashed Steve Carell fan, adore Tina Fey, and think the concept of them being married is pretty much the most obvious, genius idea ever. I mean, come on! Steve Carell! Married to Tina Fey!

This is the basic premise to the upcoming film Date Night, which has just put out a trailer this week. From the looks of it, I fear the worst but hope for the best.

What’s so promising? Here’s the supporting cast: Mila Kunis, James Franco, Mark Whalberg, Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Wiig, Ray Liotta, Olivia Munn, Common and Samantha Bee.

Less promising? The director is Shawn Levy, who gave the world Night at the Museum. If that wasn’t scary enough in terms of precedence for movies-with-good-casts-that-blew, the trailer for Date Night totally gives me some Spy Kids vibes. Maybe it’s just the typography, or cheesy espionage family humour. But it’s not really family humour. I don’t think.

I really hope this movie is not awful.

Trailer after the jump.

Date Night is film starring Steve Carell (The Office) and Tina Fey (30 Rock) as a a married couple with two children who decided to go on a date night. Everything is going as planned until they decide to take someone else’s reservation at a restaurant where they are mistaken as criminals.

The film also stars Mark Wahlberg (The Departed), James Franco (Pineapple Express), Mila Kunis (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Mark Ruffalo (13 Going On 30), Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live), Common (Wanted), and Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).

Date Night hits theaters nationwide on April 9, 2010

In that note, below are some movies to watch.

The Road (2009)

Director: John Hillcoat
Writers: Cormac McCarthy (novel) Joe Penhall (adaptation)
Release Date: 25 November 2009 (USA)
Genre: Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Plot: A post-apocalyptic tale of a man and his son trying to survive by any means possible.

Cast
Charlize Theron -Wife
Viggo Mortensen -The Man
Guy Pearce -The Veteran
Robert Duvall -Old Man

The Lovely Bones (2009)

Director: Peter Jackson
Writers (WGA): Fran Walsh (screenplay) &  Philippa Boyens (screenplay)
Release Date: 15 January 2010 (USA)
Genre: Crime | Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller more
Plot: Centers on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family – and her killer – from heaven. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.

Cast
Mark Wahlberg -Jack Salmon
Rachel Weisz -Abigail Salmon
Susan Sarandon -Grandma Lynn
Stanley Tucci -George Harvey
Saoirse Ronan -Susie Salmon
Michael Imperioli -Len Fenerman

Tell-Tale (2009)

Director: Michael Cuesta
Writers (WGA): Dave Callaham (screenplay) Edgar Allan Poe (short story “The Tell-Tale Heart”)
Genre: Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Plot: A man’s newly transplanted heart leads him on a dangerous journey to find out who murdered its donor.

Cast
Josh Lucas -Terry
Lena Headey -Elizabeth
Brian Cox -Van Doren

I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

Directors: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
Writers (WGA): John Requa (written by) & Glenn Ficarra (written by)
Release Date: 12 February 2010 (USA)
Genre: Comedy | Drama
Plot: Steven Russell is happily married to Debbie, and a member of the local police force when a car accident provokes a dramatic reassessment of his life…

Cast
Jim Carrey -Steven Russell
Ewan McGregor -Phillip Morris
Leslie Mann -Debbie

Shutter Island (2010)

Director: Martin Scorsese
Writers (WGA): Laeta Kalogridis (screenplay) Dennis Lehane (novel)
Release Date: 19 February 2010 (USA)
Genre: Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller
Plot: Drama is set in 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding on the remote Shutter Island.

Cast
Leonardo DiCaprio -Teddy Daniels
Mark Ruffalo -Chuck Aule
Ben Kingsley -Dr. John Cawley
Emily Mortimer -Rachel Solando
Michelle Williams -Dolores Chanal
Max von Sydow -Dr. Jeremiah Naehring
Jackie Earle Haley -George Noyce

Daybreakers (2010)

Directors: Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig
Writers: Michael Spierig (writer) Peter Spierig (writer)
Release Date: 8 January 2010 (USA)
Genre: Action | Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller more
Plot: In the year 2019, a plague has transformed most every human into vampires. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vamps on a way to save humankind.

Cast
Willem Dafoe -Elvis
Isabel Lucas -Alison Bromley
Ethan Hawke -Edward
Sam Neill -Charles Bromley

Source: http://www.imdb.com/

DONDE VIVEN LOS MONSTRUOS

Director: Spike Jonze

Reparto: Catherine Keener, Max Records, Mark Ruffalo, Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, James Gandolfini

Sinopsis: Max, un desobediente niño que es enviado a la cama sin cenar, crea su propio mundo imaginario, un lugar poblado por feroces criaturas que le tienen a él como líder.

“Too many guys think I’m a concept, or I complete them, or I’m gonna make them alive. But I’m just a fucked-up girl who’s lookin’ for my own peace of mind; don’t assign me yours.” ~~Clementine Kruczynski

If it’s true that the course of love doesn’t run smooth, it’s also true that our memories of that trip don’t follow a timeline. In the beginning, there are the obvious landmarks: the first meeting, a tentative investigation; the first conversation; the first kiss. But once affection sours, time goes full Cuisinart on those recollections, scrambling them so hopelessly we couldn’t reorganize them if we tried.

Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) experience this reality not once but again and again in Michel Gondry’s tender and achingly beautiful ”Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” a film with a script that mimics the curious effects of time upon our memories of lost love. Here, the end and the beginning bleed together, and they also cloud the way we see everything in the middle because the boundary lines are loose and fuzzy. Charlie Kaufman, who penned the knotty script, seems intent on drawing us in by providing all the answers and letting us ferret out the equation.

What’s so wonderfully original and mesmerizing about “Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind” is that Joel and Clementine are in the exact same position we are. Both find themselves in an odd situation with the facts of the present, yet they have no idea how they got there. And it takes quite some time before we figure out how they did, either. Since their story can’t quite be told in a linear fashion, let’s start somewhere in the muddy middle: On an uncharacteristic whim, timid loner Joel skips work and hops a train to Montauk. The ride back leads him to meet Clementine, a chatty free spirit with unruly blue hair (“I apply my personality in a paste,” she offers brightly) who’s sure she’s met Joel before. There’s an unexpected connection that threatens to become more, and that’s when everything goes pear-shaped: Seems Joel and Clem not only know each other, they used to be lovers. The reason neither remembers this has to do with Lacuna, Inc., an odd little business run by Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) that specializes in erasing painful memories.

Additional stories funnel into ”Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” involving Patrick (Elijah Wood) and Stan (the invaluable Mark Ruffalo), Lacuna’s memory-vanquishing technicians, and Mary (Kirsten Dunst), Mierzwiak’s receptionist. Their lives intersect with Joel’s because they’re charged with erasing Clementine from his mind, and all three are so wrapped up in their own strange realities that they don’t realize Joel wants to stop the procedure right in the middle of it. Not that his protests matter, really; he’s hidden too far in his own mind to be heard. This makes his anguish all the more wrenching, for who hasn’t let heartbreak lead to a bad choice screaming to be taken back?

There are, perhaps, no appropriate words to describe what Carrey and Winslet bring to this bittersweet examination of love. The kooky plot requires them to anchor their characters in reality, make them human enough for us to suffer their hurts and feel their joy. Carrey quiets himself enormously to play Joel, a lonely man who guards his heart closely. Winslet’s more open but no less touching as Clementine, a woman whose flightiness covers a deep core of insecurity and self-awareness. Together, with their stirring chemistry, they make Joel and Clementine’s love story one of the greatest ever told. 

Worry not, though, that “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is some kind of repackaged epic romance with a comedic twist. Elements of the universal exist, certainly, but with Gondry behind the camera this is love story that feels almost shockingly intimate. We catch glimpses of under-the-cover confessions, lazy afternoon strolls, early dinners uncomfortable in their cold silence — the things no one ever sees. All the shots are so gorgeously lensed, so precisely placed and edited, that what we have is a story told in scattered Polaroids. And sometimes it’s the snapshots, creased and smudged with fingerprints, we keep closest to our hearts.

The Brothers Bloom was an enjoyable watch. It wasn’t hilarious, it wasn’t sad, it wasn’t fast paced, it wasn’t too long, I guess I should start with what it was. The Brothers Bloom is a film about two brothers who grow up to be Con(fidence) men. It shows them from their humble beginnings as children when they execute their first con, and then jumps to their final few grifts. There’s some solid characters within the story, and not just the brothers. The two female leads, Rinko Kikuchi and Rachel Weisz, stand out as “Bang Bang,” and “Penelope Stamp,” respectively. They truly steal the show. Rian Johsnon, who directed Brick (2005), which I didn’t but now will see, has a very interesting style of direction. The atmosphere had just the right amount of creepy to effectively pull off a dark comedy.

Johnson points out early in the script that the use of symbolism will be often and apparent. Everything, from the way the characters wave to each other to the outfits they wear, says something about the story and the character representing the story. In fact the name of the film itself symbolizes the light-hearted take on dark events clearly with the play on the names of popular storytellers the Brothers Grimm. I look forward to seeing more of Rian Johnson’s work in the future, and after watching Brick, there will be no more material to catch up on. More Rian Johnson A.S.A.P. Hollywood!

Speaking of people there should be more of in the film world, Mark Ruffalo turns in another great performance. I’m not sure which film it was, but somewhere between Safe Men and Zodiac, Mark Ruffalo became one of the top 20 actors working today. Crazy little tidbit I just realized, Ruffalo plays Stephen in this, and Max Records plays the younger counterpart. Both were in the opening scenes of Where the Wild Things Are together. The character of Stephen is certainly the more interesting of the two brothers, but that’s probably due to the performance, as he certainly has the most boring motivation of any of the four leads. As I said earlier the true scene-stealers were the ladies, as even without words, Bang Bang had more screen presence than Adrien Brody, who was forgettable in his turn as “Bloom.” Rachel Weisz is either really funny, really lucky Adrien Brody makes her seem funnier due to his dryness, or both. She nailed her role as an over-the-top New Jersey Heiress shut in with no friends and tons of hobbies.

Kikuchi and Ruffalo

I could live without ever seeing another film about Con Men. It’s just played out to me at this point. The Brothers Bloom had it’s own spin on the deal, and that made it watchable, but I’m certainly not as enthused as I’d be about this movie if I didn’t have to watch Matchstick Men, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Sting, Confidence, etc. It takes a lot to get something original from a source tapped as many times as this one, but I certainly can’t say I didn’t enjoy the Brothers Bloom, so Johnson pulled it off somehow.

Some supporting roles that deserve to be mentioned are Robbie Coltrane and Maximlian Schell. Coltrane played “The Curator,” and was great in his drunken haze. Schell was the films main Antagonist, who is only on screen for about two minutes all together, but does enough in that time to show why the titular brothers loathe his existence. It was also nice to see the quick exchange between Ruffalo, Schell, and a wine bottle. The most intense moment of the film I’d say. While I’m talking about great supporting characters in the film, did I mention Rinko Kikuchi as Bang Bang? Oh, I did.

The Brothers Bloom is an interesting experience with familiar material, but I guess every movie is based on familiar material these days. Rian Johnson shows he’s going to have an interesting future in the business, and brings a lot out of a great cast. Always nice to see the writer/director be so successful at seeing his image all the way through. This film is just the right length to keep from getting repetitive, but is also just not funny enough to demand repeat viewings.

Rating: Rent, Borrow, or Watch onDemand

Shutter Island è un film statunitense diretto da Martin Scorsese con Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer e Max von Sydow.

Leggi altre notizie su: | Drammatico | Thriller | Martin Scorsese | Leonardo DiCaprio | Mark Ruffalo | Ben Kingsley

This movie looks excellent.  I am not usually a fan of Hollywood films but I will see this one.  Mark Ruffalo is a new favorite of mine (well, new since 2003,) and Leonardo Dicaprio is a fine actor.  The pair play U.S. Marshalls investigating the disappearance of a patient from a remote island hospital for the criminally insane.  Also starring the legendary Sir Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow, Patricia Clarkson and Michelle Williams.  Based on a novel by Dennis Lehane (Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River,) and directed by Martin Scorsese.  Due in theaters February, 2010.

We learn to see things before we even learn to think or speak. Languages were invented and devised so we could communicate to one another our visions. Perspective is a word we made up through centuries of different ways of seeing. What would we do without this gift? Blindness explores what might happen should we lose it.

One man’s misfortune at the beginning of the film turns into an all out epidemic of ”white-blindness” that takes over a city and plunges more and more victims into a quarantine site away from the bureaucracy and morality of the real world. In a place where everyone is supposedly ‘equalized’, gangs start to form within the wards as conflicting personalities and priorities clash, resulting in complete chaos. It was a strangely accurate depiction of the nature and history of humanity. There were wars, struggles for authority, murder and prostitution for food before someone decided to revolt and break out of the quarantine site.

Once outside they discovered that the whole world had gone blind. People started to form adoptive families, leaning on one another for support to survive. Out of the chaos comes a new human appreciation for everything previously taken for granted. Everything is shared, everything is less superficial, everyone is simpler and real.

Watching Blindness I was reminded of reading Animal Farm; they are similar on many levels. Bold, disturbing, and enlightening, I thoroughly enjoyed this well crafted piece which boasts a stellar cast that includes Julianne Moore, Danny Glover and Mark Ruffalo.