Ach, wenn es jeder macht, kann ich mich mal ausnahmsweise dem Trend anschließen und eine kleine Best of Liste machen, mit allem, was mir in diesem Jahr so in die Hände gekomme nist und gefallen hat. Vielleicht ist ja der eine oder andere Geheimtipp dabei (?):

Film: The Dark Knight (Musste ja kommen, aber der Film ist wirklich gut), Hellboy 2, Get Smart, Juno, There will be Blood, No Country for old Man,
TV Serie: DEXTER, The IT Crowd, South Park
Serie: The Angry Video Game Nerd (Der muss noch irgendwann mal näher beschrieben werden)
Web page: gametrailers.com , nerdcore.de
Videogame: Fallout 3, Call of Duty 4, GTA 4
Buch: Paulo Coelho “Veronika beschließt zu sterben”
Musik: Die Toten Hosen “In Aller Stille”, Farin Urlaub Racing Team “Die Wahrheit übers Lügen”
Konzert: 22.11.2008 Die Toten Hosen “Mach mal lauter”-Tour 2008 in Mannheim SAP-Arena
Ereignis: Einrichtung dieses Blogs, eintägige Überschreitung der 500 Besucher Marke
Was schlecht geworden ist: Milch im Kühlschrank, Harry Potter und der Plastik Pokal, Mediocre Movies (Nur noch Retarded Policeman), Heroes (schon seit der 2ten Staffel), Die Simpsons, GIGA,

Diese Liste erhebt keinen Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit und kann ergänzt werden.

The Coen Brothers’ latest dark farce belies a chilly core.

After two and a half decades, is there any doubt that the Coen Brothers are a major force within American cinema? After so many critically-lauded efforts and rooms full of awards, their legacy seems secure. Film students of future years will likely debate and compare the merits of their various works, dissembling their best from the smaller collection of middling accomplishments and the smaller still assortment of weak efforts. Their latest film, Burn After Reading, is either at the top of the middle tier or the very bottom of the highest level. A bleak, unmerciful and at times unfair depiction of human failings venial and great, it shows the brothers’ classic strengths while hinting at an emerging misanthropy no longer tempered by intellectual reserve.

The MacGuffin of stolen spy secrets featured in the film’s marketing campaign is really only a small part of the Catherine wheel plot involving a melange of unsavory and unsympathetic characters. Pompous ivy-league CIA analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) is removed of his duties and sent packing from the agency. He retreats into a drunken stupor in order to write a memoir, though his days are mostly spent staring out of a window or watching television. His wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) is planning a divorce and sleeping with aging U.S. Marshall Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney). When a disc containing Osborne’s memoir notes and personal finances gets lost at a fitness center, it falls into the clutches of gym employees Chad (Brad Pitt) and Linda (Frances McDormand).

Strange bedfellows: Clooney, Swinton

Chad and Linda attempt to sell the disc, first back to Osborne and then to the Russians, with no success. Linda wants the money to fund four plastic surgeries.  ”I’ve gone as far as I can with this body,” she tells her boss Ted (Richard Jenkins.) Her obsession with her youth runs so deep that, like the man children of Bottle Rocket, her apartment’s decor is frozen in the bygone 1970s. Chad seems ecstatic to be in the world of “some CIA shit, man.” Overambitious and deeply under-prepared for such black op negotiations, the pair’s greed is matched only by their incompetence.

Then Linda starts sleeping with Harry, and plot points that run shaggy and free through the film’s first half begin to coalesce. Chad infiltrates the Cox household with tragic results. Linda’s romance with the easygoing, slow-witted Harry offers some joy but dissolves into selfishness. Osborne collapses into bitterness and binge drinking. Katie, the icy center of the characters, remains static and shrill while bullying Osborne and Harry alike. Every character has plenty to hide, and in a city like Washington, D.C. their paranoia is only amplified by their surroundings. And as if to justify such suspicion, events are monitored by two nameless CIA office workers (David Rasche and J.K. Simmons) who clean up their messes and remark dispassionately on the proceedings.

“What did we even learn?” Simmons asks in the film’s thunderously anti-climactic denouement. The Coens are expert at depicting paranoia and selfishness but stop short of offering an explanation for why that behavior would seem so universal to the human condition. In a sense, such lack of theorizing reinforces a common complaint against their formidable screenwriting skills: that they lack compassion for their characters and only seldom condescend to depict human warmth. While a hint of such attitude has always floated across the surface of their work – most notably Miller’s Crossing and Fargo- here the contempt becomes unmistakable. It’s been suggested elsewhere that the lack of a warm center such as Fargo’s Marge Gunderson makes these flawed characters seem more acrid for lack of a counterpoint. But in removing that warmth the Coens are approaching the same chilly disconnect that Stanley Kubrick withdrew into after Barry Lyndon – a withdrawal that consequently led to diminishing achievement in his later films.

Jenkins, McDormand, Pitt check out SBR

That’s not to say the plot isn’t tautly suspenseful, or that the dialogue isn’t sharp as a sword. The Coens are probably incapable of producing anything less. But their sense of humor is getting meaner, less agile, even while the plot twists darken and grow increasingly gruesome. Two acts of largely shocking violence are depicted in the most bloodied manner possible, evoking the lusty gore of last year’s troubled No Country For Old Men. That the second instance seems thoroughly superfluous only muddles the film’s tone even further.

If nothing else, the Coens serve up a movie of performances. Clooney reverses the cocky weariness he employed a decade ago in Out of Sight to portray a man grabbing for any creature comfort; Harry’s compulsion to jog after sex speaks volumes about his ability to commit. McDormand finds a weird charm in Linda’s desperate flight from old age, while Malkovich gets more mileage out of roaring the f-bomb than any actor this side of Denis Leary. Swinton’s part is underwritten, but she’s memorably bitchy in a glacial kind of way. Pitt bops through the role of Chad like a man on the first day of his annual vacation. For all the actor’s philanthropic efforts, the chance to play the simple, cocky musclehead must have been liberating indeed. Jenkins, so effective earlier this year in The Visitor, gives a delicate, nuanced turn; an abandoned subplot regarding Ted’s previous career screams for re-visitation that never arrives.

Sharp, mean, intelligent and caustic, Burn After Reading is a film about stupid people in situations the smartest among us have trouble negotiating. Washington, D.C. is no country for dumb men, and the petty failings of these characters only dooms them further. If you can stomach the Coens’ rapidly overshadowing disdain for such people, or especially if you agree with it, you’ll have a great time.

- Michael Kabel

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

The Coen brothers make their finest thriller since Fargo with a restrained adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel. Not that there aren’t moments of intense violence, but No Country for Old Men is their quietest, most existential film yet. In this modern-day Western, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is a Vietnam vet who could use a break. One morning while hunting antelope, he spies several trucks surrounded by dead bodies (both human and canine). In examining the site, he finds a case filled with $2 million. Moss takes it with him, tells his wife (Kelly Macdonald) he’s going away for awhile, and hits the road until he can determine his next move. On the way from El Paso to Mexico, he discovers he’s being followed by ex-special ops agent Chigurh (an eerily calm Javier Bardem). Chigurh’s weapon of choice is a cattle gun, and he uses it on everyone who gets in his way–or loses a coin toss (as far as he’s concerned, bad luck is grounds for death). Just as Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), a World War II vet, is on Moss’s trail, Chigurh’s former colleague, Wells (Woody Harrelson), is on his. For most of the movie, Moss remains one step ahead of his nemesis. Both men are clever and resourceful–except Moss has a conscience, Chigurh does not (he is, as McCarthy puts it, “a prophet of destruction”). At times, the film plays like an old horror movie, with Chigurh as its lumbering Frankenstein monster. Like the taciturn terminator, No Country for Old Men doesn’t move quickly, but the tension never dissipates. This minimalist masterwork represents Joel and Ethan Coen and their entire cast, particularly Brolin and Jones, at the peak of their powers. –Kathleen C. Fennessy

No Country for Old Men is available at Amazon for $15.99. To Order click here
Amazon Product Pages contain a lot of other details on this product as Customer Reviews, Sales Ranking, Special Offers, Alternate products that customers are going for and much more.Want to read these details? click here

Want to get some other Format / Binding / Version? You can search for them from here

Other Products of Interest

• There Will Be Blood (Two-Disc Special Collector’s Edition)
• Gone Baby Gone
• In the Valley of Elah
• Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
• The Savages

Queridos y escasos lectores. Si habeis entrado más de una vez en mí blog habreis observado que en la columna de la derecha, bajo el epígrafe estados de ánimo, la foto cambia a intervalos irregulares según eso: mi estado de ánimo.

Y la pregunta de hoy es: ¿En la foto actual parezco Bardem en “No country for old man?” Es que hoy me siento un poco así.

Pero no seais tímidos y dejad vuestros comentarios.

-1 mei 2008-

it’s mayday! gosh!, untuk yang pertama kali aku larut dalam hiruk-pikuk “pesta rakyat” tersebut. ya, pesta!. pesta dalam arti sebenarnya. tumpukan orang dari berbagai wilayah, tanggerang, bekasi, dan lain-lain. tumblek-blek!. jalanan sepi, dan dimana-mana hanya ada lautan orang (di wilayah bunderan hi). berbagai macam orasi saling menyalak-nyalak, dan saya tergelak.

disana saya mencoba mencari seorang kawan lama, siapa tau nanti ketemu. iseng, saya melihat sekumpulan orang-orang media, dan aha ! saya menemukan para orang-orang berbaju khas, warna hitam gelap beserta logo diamond. ya, trans!. saya datangi mereka, dan melihat satu persatu wajahnya. tapi sayang, orang yang cari tidak ada. biasanya di acara-cara seperti ini dia selalu hadir, namun entah apakah sudah saking “lamanya” dia berkecimpung di dunia demo sehingga dia akhirnya bosan, saya tidak tau. di bandung dahulu teman saya yang satu ini bisa dibilang selalu aktif ketika ada demo. waktu dulu ada kasus tentang ultimus di bandung dia ada didalamnya.

begitupun dengan mayday-mayday beberapa tahun yang lalu.

beberapa dari proletar-proletar mulai menunjukan aksinya masing-masing. ada yang menjual teater jelanan, ada yang menjual selebaran, poster, lengkap. saya melihat lihat kesekitar, dan kesemuanya terlihat seru dimata saya. saya seperti anak kecil, yang baru melihat pertunjukan pasar malam dengan kerlap-kerlip lampu bagai bintang dan penuh mainan.

saya mulai perjalanan saya 1 mei, dengan berjalan dari halte setiabudi sampai dengan daerah disekitar daerah sabang. sepanjang perjalanan yang saya lihat hanyalah demo, demo, dan demo. untung ketika demo berlangsung diadakan acara-acara seperti pertunjukan teater jalanan, dan reog. setidaknya itu membuat saya sedikit terhibur. bayangkan apabila acara-acara itu tidak ada, dan hanya ada demo serta orasi-orasi yang ndak puguh itu ? betapa bosan dan menyebalkan bukan?.

demo setelah orde baru ini terlihat menjemukan. beda dengan demo sebelum orde baru, dan ketika menggulingkan orde baru. ya, sebagai manusia saya memang tidak ada ketika demo mei tahun lalu itu meledak. tapi sebagai manusia, rasa kemanusiaan saya hadir dan emosi saya pun ada ketika melihat demo tersebut melalui berbagai macam media. entah itu koran, televisi, ataupun radio.

ketika orde baru, memang masalah-masalah yang didemokan kompleks, pun sama dengan masa-masa yang sekarang. tapi tujuan mereka satu, “gulingkan soeharto” dan angkat presiden baru, lalu bentuk sistem kepemerintahan baru, dan “REFORMASI”. seperti itulah. rasanya dulu, ketika mendengar kata-kata reformasi seperti mendengar satu harapan baru. mencerahkan, dan memberi harapan. seiring waktu, kata-kata reformasi pun menjadi lekang.

masa yang sekarang, adalah masa-masa demo yang jemu. demo tanpa tujuan dan latar belakang yang tidak jelas. absurd. sedikit tidak ada kecocokan, maka akan menyulut suatu demo. terus dan terus seperti itu. bisa dibilang euphoria demo.

-2 – 4 mei 2008-

akhirnya saya pindah! eureka!. untuk kesekian kalinya pindah tempat tinggal lagi –kost. kali ini sedikit jauh dari kantor, dan keramaian. kembali lagi ke pasar minggu. tempat nya nyaman, masih banyak pohon-pohon hijau, dan ketika pagi menjelang saya masih bisa melihat dan merasakan kabut. senang ? oh tentu, dimana lagi ada tempat yang ketika pagi datang bisa mendengar suara burung, menghirup uap udara yang masih asri, jauh dari keramaian dan kebisingan dari jakarta, dan satu lagi : sedikit strategis, selain di daerah pasar minggu ?.

tentunya lain hal jika kamu adalah trah dari seseorang yang kaya-raya banyak harta. di jakarta ini uang adalah tuhan kecil. dan bagaimana dengan yang tidak “ber-uang” ?. tenang, pameo tentang jakarta yang menyebut : “jakarta lebih kejam daripada ibu tiri”, tidaklah 100% benar. masih ada se-per sekian persen orang-orang di jakarta yang punya mata, hati, dan pikiran yang memang “beda” diantara yang lain. abnormal diantara normal, tapi bersifat pure normal.

pindahan dengan mengusung berbagai rupa barang akhirnya selesai pada tanggal 3. berbekal satu buah carirer, dan sebuah backpack, benda-benda di kamar yang lama habis dan enyah sudah. buku-buku besar seperti DBR (dibawah bendera revolusi) masuk ke carirer yang besar. karena jika di taruh didalam backpack akan sangat berat, dan menyebabkan benda-benda yang lain tidak muat untuk dibawa.

packaging, removing, bakcpacking.

tak terasa kegiatan seperti itu sudah hampir dari tahun 2000 saya lakukan. pindah dari satu tempat ke tempat lain, dari satu wilayah ke wilayah lain, bertemu dengan orang-orang baru, kejadian-kejadian baru, ah.. sungguh sebuah petualangan. awal kost saya adalah ketika diterima di sebuah sekolah di jakarta. semenjak itulah saya mulai terpisah dari keluarga, dan didaulat oleh waktu sebagai seorang pejalan.

8 tahun, sebuah perjalanan berpindah-pindah yang bisa dibilang cukup. memori-memori tersebut terkadang ada yang utuh tersimpan didalam album di otak. dan terkadang juga, tak jarang yang hilang secara halus tergerus oleh waktu.

berfikir untuk menetap ?. tentu, hal seperti itu sudah pernah terbesit di pikiran saya. mempunyai sebuah rumah kecil, nyaman, dan bisa kemana-mana sekena hati saya. tapi …. setelah pikiran itu melayang-layang, saya jadi seperti memiliki sebuah sangkar. mengkungkung saya untuk betah dan tidak berfikiran untuk bepergian kemana-mana. mungkin kedepannya yang harus saya persiapkan selain carirer adalah sebuah tenda dom. tidak berukuran besar, namun cukup. serta tak ketinggalan, sleeping bag, atau matras! hahaha.

-9 -11 mei 2008-

Untuk yang ke-berapa kali, mulai merasakan kembali hal-hal yang dulu hanya bisa dilihat tanpa merasa dan menjadi. ya, kalau dulu aku hanya ber-intuisi saja. meraba-raba rasa, dan merasa. palsu. laiknya sebuah karya yang penuh dengan buai-buai imaji kosong. melompong dan tidak bernyawa. seperti itulah.

malam itu jalanan seperti biasa, masih penuh dengan orang-orang, lalu lalang dari arah menuju ke tujuan masing-masing. jakarta gerimis. hujan keluar rintik-rintik genit, dan manja. aku memutuskan keluar sesegera mungkin dari kantor untuk memburu malam ini, supaya bisa keluar dan bermanja-manja dengan beberapa kawan. sekedar melepas penat.

jakarta gerimis, dan secara tak dinyana seorang teman membawakan penghangat. sebotol jack daniels, 3 botol bir, dan rokok. bah! malam panjang, pikirku. besok sabtu, dan malam ini saya menghabiskan diri bersama para bolokurowo disini. genjrang-genjreng semalam suntuk, berakhir menginap di tempat teman karena antara badan dan pikiran sudah mulai tidak sinkron lagi.

esoknya, dilanjut dengan menonton film. “no country from old men”, sebuah film tahun 2007 kemarin. sebenarnya film ini sudah ada di harddisk komputer saya. namun karena penyakit yang bernama malas, akhirnya dengan sukses film ini hanya “mengendap” di dasar bersama berjuta-juta files.

film gila! benar-benar gila!. menceritakan, menggambarkan, dan mengajarkan tentang apa itu “tua”. tua ketika kamu sudah merasakan kesemuanya, tua ketika kamu merasa bosan dan jenuh dengan segala rutinitas yang sudah kamu kumpulkan selama hidup ini, tua karena kamu sudah tidak tau dan tidak mau melakukan apa-apa, tua karena kamu sekarang ini berbatas : entah berbatas karena fisik yang sudah renta, atau berbatas dalam arti yang lain.

pemenang 2 oscar, dan saya rasa pantas untuk memenangkan oscar selama 2 kali!. pstt.. sekedar saran. baiknya, hati-hati ketika ending film ini berlangsung. perhatikan dengan seksama setiap dialog nya dengan cermat. karena inti dari film ini adalah di akhir filmnya. jangan menyesal ketika ending berlangsung, kamu menjadi gagal dan gagap mengambil apa-arti didalam film ini.

-5 mei – present-

Alat transportasi saya berubah!. hahaha.

Mulai dari 5 mei lalu, saya menjadi intim menaiki kereta-kereta jakarta. merasakan kehidupan kereta, menelan realita sekenyang-kenyangnya tentang kota yang bernama jakarta. realita diobral gratis! tinggal pungut dan ambil sekena hati.

saya mulai merasakan remah-remah tentang kehidupan kereta yang pernah kau tulis dan kau gambar di benak melalui huruf-huruf itu ril !. kereta dan kereta. dari gerbong satu loncat ke gerbong yang lain. dari pegawai berkerah putih parlente, sampai ke kelas lonte. semua ada, semua nyata.

kereta ril, kereta,..

tempat dimana waktu itu kamu melepas hasrat gairah binalmu yang menggebu-gebu bersama dengan lonte-lonte bongkaran, tanah abang. tempat dimana kamu membumi, karena pergaulan mu yang sangat tidak dinyana-nyana, betapa kamu bisa bergaul dari kelas noni-noni sampai dengan kelas pelacur sekali pun.

Sono sparito, lo so. Sono un coniglio sparito in un cappello, nero e puzzolente, pieno di forfora. Un bel coniglio bianco alla Bugs Bunny, ma più figo.
Poiché è un periodo che ho poco tempo, per farvi vedere che non sono ancora morto, vi traduco dall’inglese un articolo preso dal sito del The New York Times che parla di me. Eggià, perché anche se ora il mio cortomentraggio è stato visto da 1300 e passa persone, uno degli spettatori più importanti è stato il numero mille. Perché gli zero si festeggiano. Comunque, non voglio rovinarvi la sorpresa dell’articolo…

Lei e l’uomo (di legno)

Grazie Vale

É muito bom começar esse blog de cinema já comentando sobre a 80ª festa do Oscar. Acompanho os prêmios da Academia desde 1999 (embora era muito nova pra lembrar com detalhes) e confesso que sou viciada no glamour da cerimônia.

Alguns prêmios realmente me surpreenderam. Dentre eles os prêmios de edição de efeitos sonoros (onde o grande favorito era o barulhento Transformers) e o prêmio de melhor fotografia (eu estava certa de que o ganhador seria Desejo e Reparação). Entretanto, não há dúvidas de que esse foi um dos anos mais justos para os ganhadores. Não escondo minha paixão pela visceral Marion Cotillard na pele de Édith Piaf, a grande rainha da música francesa. Na verdade, desde 1962 — quando Sophia Loren ganhou sua estatueta por Duas Mulheres — nenhuma atriz havia conquistado o prêmio principal num filme onde o inglês não é a língua oficial. Grande feito, Marion!

E o que dizer sobre o espanhol  Javier Bardem? Ele é o primeiro ator vindo da Espanha a conquistar o Oscar de melhor ator. Porém, como ainda não assisti Onde os Fracos Não Tem Vez, não posso comentar sua atuação.

Dentre os prêmios técnicos, algumas pequenas “zebras” aconteceram, como o Oscar de melhores efeitos visuais que foi para A Bússola de Ouro, um verdadeiro fracasso nas bilheterias americanas.

Como não poderia faltar, o Oscar têm suas probabilidades que se concretizam como sempre. Os irmãos Joel e Ethan Coen levaram para casa suas estatuetas pela direção do filme que também consagrou Bardem. O longa conquistou também o Oscar de melhor filme. O já oscarizado Daniel Day-Lewis conquistou sua segunda estatueta no papel de um magnata do petróleo em Sangue Negro. Nas categorias de roteiro original, direção de arte e figurino, Juno, Sweeney Todd e Elizabeth – A Era de Ouro levaram o homenzinho dourado sem grandes dificuldades.

Apesar da baixa audiência dessa cerimônia (exibida nos Estados Unidos pelo canal ABC), os cinéfilos de carteirinha e apaixonados pela história do Oscar devem ter respirado aliviados (como eu) ao assistirem uma prêmiação onde não aconteceram maiores injustiças. Que venha o Oscar 2009!

En la tarde de ayer, el matrimonio presidencial argentino, estaba viendo televisión siguiendo los pormenores de la Asamblea que consagró a Raúl Castro como nuevo presidente de Cuba, cuando de pronto lo escuchan a Raúl, decir…” Propongo que las decisiones de especial importancia se me permita consultarlas con el compañero Fidel Castro”, se miraron Néstor y Cristina, tantos años de conocerse hacían que llegaran al mismo tiempo, a la misma idea, Raúl les había dado la clave para salir de la acusación de Duhalde, que la argentina está siendo gobernada por un “doble comando”.

Se golpearon las manos en lo alto, como los basquebolistas después de un doble y Néstor le propuso y ella aceptó, que el próximo 1º de marzo al inaugurar la primera Asamblea Legislativa del mandato de Cristina, propusieran al parlamento votar afirmativamente la misma fórmula que Raúl propuso sobre Fidel, en Cuba… es decir reemplazar la figura del  “doble comando” por la más eufemística proposición del “mecanismo de consulta presidencial”.

Y fue de improviso, cuando se volvieron a mirar, que ella le propuso…”Néstor, viste la postura del negrito Obama sobre un encuentro con Raúl Castro sin precondiciones por parte de EEUU… si, algo escuché…Néstor, a Lula lo veo muy agrandado en su rol de mediador y si tomás la iniciativa de fogonear vos, la cumbre Obama-Castro…dejame pensarlo, Cristina”

Querido Néstor y Estimada Cristina, la política al poder, quiere contribuir con el texto del afiche de la Cumbre Obama-Castro

Después de 50 años, Otra América es posible. Cumbre presidencial, Obama-Castro. Febrero de 2009-Calafate, Argentina.

Anoche en la entrega de los Oscar 2008, la academia de Hollywood al premiar a Javier Bardem y a los hermanos Coen por el film  Sin lugar para los débiles (No country for old Men) te mandó un mensaje querido Néstor…”Hacete un lugar en el mundo”…la relación futura entre EEUU y Cuba, suena como una buena oportunidad…de alta política.

Nem queria falar do Oscar porque todo mundo tá falando. E, se todo mundo tá falando do fidel, dos cartões corporativos, da britneyamyparis, seria uma injustiça deixar de abordar também esses temas tãããão importantes para a formação do ser humano enquanto débil. Masss, o ano passado foi todo bom, todo fantasticamente ótimo (é, fantasticamente mesmo). Todos os meus diretores americanos favoritos lançaram suas melhores obras (é o que dizem) numa mesma época e, os que não chegaram lá (Zodiac, The Darjeeling Limited) tem o meu apreço igualmente. Óbvio que There Will Be Blood será o melhor, o clássico, o renovador de estruturas, o pica grossa da temporada, óbvio. E No Country For Old Man também. Então, 2007 foi um ótimo ano.

A última vez que o cinema americano me deu tantas alegrias (uia!) de uma vez só foi na temporada de 1999-2001. Magnolia, American Beauty, Being John Malkovich, Fight Club, The Man Who Wasn’t There, O Brother Where Art Thou, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Sixth Sense, Almost Famous e um eventual ótimo filme do Woody Allen (Sweet and Lowdown, não viu? pois veja seu megana!). E, foi mais ou menos por essa época, com esses filmes, que eu notei o quanto eu gostava disso tudo, inclusive de acompanhar a papagaida toda que envolve a festinha particular, opremiomáximodocinema, a viadagem, o Oscar.

Então, esse ano vai ser dos Coen, porque são indicados ao Oscar desde 1997 e só levaram duas estatuetas (uma pra eles, por roteiro adaptado, e uma pra Frances McDormand, pra evitar inveja entre marido e mulé). Eles inclusive vêm preparando todo um visu respeitável desde o lançamento de No Country…, porque sabiam que subir em palanques seria o lamba-aeróbica deles em 2008. Veja que bigodes bem cortados:

Cormac McCarthy, Ethan Coen e Joel Coen, três dos maiores >ponha aqui seu clichê favorito< vivos

Logo, os prêmios de melhor filme, ator coadjuvante, roteiro adaptado e melhor edição de som (difícil captar o barulho de uma arma com precisão) irão para No Country. Am I right? Ai você me pergunta e direção professor? E eu te digo que esse é do P.T. e ninguém passa a mão impregnada de suor frio naquele golden butt além dele. O Homem já foi indicado duas vezes por roteiro original (Boogie Nights e Magnolia) e nunca levou nada. Veja o resultado da preparação do cara pra ficar good looking: (PAUSA PARA MOMENTO NELSON RUBENS…)

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Enquanto procurava uma foto bacana do P.T. dei de cara com uma em que ele estava de mãos dadas com a Maya Rudolph. Fiz cara de oh-my-gosh-that-is-so-wild e fui pesquisar mais profundamente. Googlei e o que me aparece? “Rudolph and filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson are in a relationship, and have a daughter”. Retomei minha expressão de espanto, só que dessa vez em caps lock e com duas exclamações (OH-MY-GOSH-THAT-IS-SO-WILD!!). Esse cara já pegou Fiona Apple e Aimee Mann, logo imaginava que a próxima seria, sei lá, Chan Marshall. Fui pesquisar mais a fundo (imdb) e descobri que ele curte pacas SNL, já tendo, inclusive, dirigido episódios desse que é o melhor programa de comédia das americas há mais de 30 anos. Já achava o Paul Thomas Anderson um diretor que, se fizesse um filme onde os personagens só vestissem cocô rosa, eu iria gostar. Mas além de ser so fuckin’ great o cara ainda tá pegando a minha atual comediante favorita. É aquela coisa, modelo de vida pros meus 30 anos de idade. (RETOMANDO A PROGRAMAÇÃO NORMAL…)

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Paul Thomas Anderson, THE motherfucker

Além de direção, There Will… vai levar melhor ator (porque Day-Lewis já tem um golden butt em casa e o Oscar tá precisando tirar o recorde do Jack Nicholson, que fica por ai dando vexame com essas porras de filmes de merda que anda fazendo), melhor direção de arte (difícil criar um poço de petróleo do nada), melhor fotografia (difícil extrair beleza de um poço de petróleo) e melhor edição.

Atonement vai ser o Babel desse ano (certeza que leva só trilha sonora), apesar de ser infinitamente superior ao filme cucaracha. Ou, posso estar muito enganado, vai papar geral e voltar pra casa com 5 golden butts. Juno leva roteiro original (jura?). Os prêmios de atriz e atriz coadjuvante também já estão nas mãos da Marion Cotillard e da Cate Blanchett (a não ser que o Oscar queira ficar zóven e revolucionário esse ano, ai é Ellen Page e Saoirse Ronan).

Agora vamos a categorias realmente imprevisíveis, aquelas onde a certeza não existe porque ninguém viu nada mesmo (acho que em todo bolão, esses prêmios deveriam ter peso II):

Meus critérios de seleção para essas categorias são os mais abalizados, sempre escolho os que tem o melhor título ou alguma coisa com “guerra” no meio.

Então, pra vocês que irão curtir o espetáculo na companhia de José Wilker, é bom não se concentrar muito no óculos que ele usa (vem de brinde junto com a melissinha da filha dele). Deve achar que é legal e pega bem (Zé, não é e não pega). As dublagens da grobo também são uma merda e a transmissão da festa só começa depois do bloody paredão. Pra quem vai ficar com o Rubens Ewald, o cara é uma besta, vai passar a noite se lamentando porque Atonement não ganhou nada e vai errar o nome de tooodos os filmes que irão passar naqueles clipes legais de homenagens (acho essas montagens de trechos de vários filmes o melhor da festa). E ladys, sem choro na hora do clipe do Heath Ledger. Segunda eu volto com quilos de olheiras pra fazer um balanço da premiação.

Al final me decidi por ir al cine a ver la ultima de los Coen. Hacia tiempo que no iba al cine y no tarde en recordar porque. Vale que te enchufen 8 leuris por la pelicula. No pasa nada, estamos en Irlanda (en Espanya anda por ahi). El caso es que te sientas y desde que comienzan los anuncios hasta unos buenos 3/4 de hora, el cine es un continuo bulle-bulle de gente comiendo bolsas de puta-mierdas fritas. No solo el ruido, el olor, el pasame la bolsa, el sorber. Eso en una pelicula de silencios mas o menos extensos es un horror.

Pero no queda ahi la cosa. En tiempos de los mobiles a un paisano le suena un mensaje, otros tantos se dan cuenta y sacan los suyos para apagarlos (parecia un concierto de los scorpions en still loving you), cada tres minutos uno lo saca para ver si le han enviado algo, o la hora. Total, que te distraes. A ver, o se come o se ve la pelicula, o se ve el movil o se atiende. Ademas (no quiero parecer pumares), cuando se acaba la bolsa…. se acaba!!!! jdr, there is no point en darle la vuelta o estrujarla… No van a salir mas gusanitos jdr!!!!!!

Bueno, la peli bien. Bardem hubiera estado perfecto de estar mas contenido en alguna escena pero raya a buena altura. No es una peli de los Coen que a mi me gustaban (Big Lebowski, Fargo, Arizona etcetc), pero esta bien. Cambia el punto de la novela en la que el personaje de Tommy Lee Jones seria el prota para darle el protagonista a Bardem (que en la novela pasa un poco de soslayo), pero claro, Bardem es el que pega los tiros. Eso hace que traicione un tanto el tema de la novela (no es pais para viejos, xq el prota reflexiona sobre la vejez, pero si el prota pasa a ser un psicopata…)

 En todo caso una peli notable (me recordo en algun punto a Melkiades Estrada tb de Tommy Lee Jones). Eso si, o se organizan sesiones privadas para espectadores que quieran ver realmente la pelicula o le auguro larga vida al emule.

et une nouvelle catégorie pour les yeux!

un film à voir et j’en dirais pas plus :

Ho la febbre. E per quanto non sia uno che si lamenta spesso (non per niente, come tutti gli umani mi piace ricevere attenzioni, ma non mi piace far sapere agli altri come mi sento.. in tutti i sensi), devo dirvelo. Ho la febbre. I neuroni che di solito mi aiutano a scrivere i post sono con l’esercito della difesa immunitaria per respingere i rinforzi dei virus che tentano di aiutare quelli già presenti. Quando uno è malato e fa sempre la tosse si sente come morire, e a volte preferirebbe farlo per non tirare il naso in su ancora una volta. Per quanto ho degli appunti per i casi di vuoto di pensieri come questo, non mi va proprio di trovare la pagina in chissà quale quadernetto in cui scrivo tutto (ma quanti ne ho!?) quello che mi viene in mente quando penso di cosa mi piacerebbe parlare. Quindi, perdo tempo a parlare di come mi sento affinché mi venga qualche idea in mente. Anche il titolo, è lungo così mentre le mani scrivevano, almeno uno sceneggiatore a forma di neurone mi venga in soccorso, perché qui su dalle orecchie, c’è il virus della banalità che tenta di entrare. E anche se non sono dell’esercito del sistema immunitario, qui serve una mano.

Cinque film di prossima uscita che dovete tener d’occhio. Cinque vecchi post tra quelli che preferisco. Cinque canzoni che dovete sentire.

Odio gli sceneggiatori che usano troppe metafore nei discorsi seri.

C’è una ragazza seduta su una panchina al parco. Si sentono dei bambini giocare, gli uccelli cantare (niente pauraaaaa, niente pauraaaaaa). La ragazza è triste e guarda per terra. C’è un uomo che corre, arrivato a un certo punto si ferma e si guarda preoccupato intorno. Finché il suo sguardo si ferma sulla ragazza, così, tranquillo corre verso lei.

ragazzo

Eccoti, ma dove eri finita? Ti ho cercata ovunque..Ho chiamato i nostri amici, tua mamma, tua sorella..Siamo lì in cucina che parliamo e all’improvviso sparisci!

La ragazza continua a guardare per terra, silenziosa.

ragazzo

Ehi! Parlo con te!

ragazzo

Sì, parli. Parlavi tu in cucina, non parlavamo. Se parlavamo te ne saresti accorto quando me ne sono andata, non ti pare?

Il ragazzo ansimava ancora per la corsa, quando all’improvviso si ferma e si siede accanto alla ragazza.

ragazzo

Parlami, dimmi cos’hai.

ragazza

Sono giù.

ragazzo

Eh sì, abitiamo al terzo piano amore mio. E ora siamo al parco, è normale che siamo giù.

ragazza

Vedi? Scherzi anche quando non c’entra un cavolo. Perché? E’ come se fossi un albero, e un cacciatore di orsi polari mi avesse per sbaglio colpita con la sua fionda.

ragazzo

Ragazza, amore mio, ma che cazzo dici?

ragazza

E’ come se fossi un uccello che nonostante abbia le ali, non riesce a volare perchè è pesante per tutti i pensieri che ha.

ragazzo

Ti senti come un pinguino?

ragazza

Sì, è come se fossi una pinguina.

ragazzo

Peccato che non sia divertente come quando ti sentivi una pecora, amore mio.

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Cinque film che dovete assolutamente attendere con ansia.

The Ten

Dieci storie, ognuna ispirata ai dieci comandamenti.

Cast: Jessica Alba, Adam Brody, Rob Corddry, Liev Schreiber, Winona Ryder, Kerri Kenney, Joe Lo Truglio, Paul Rudd, Famke Janssen

Trailer (spassosissimo, guardatelo!)

Perché aspettarlo? Perché è un comico che promette bene. Perché ha un cast di tutto rispetto. Perché prende in giro i dieci comandamenti.

NOTE: Winona Ryder interpreta una ragazza che ruba in un negozio. Accettò la parte per scherzare sul caso di furto che la vide accusata.

Cloverfield

New York subisce un attacco mostruoso che annienta l’intera città e sconvolge gli abitanti. Da dove proviene questa forza distruttiva?
Trailer (da vedere…)
Perché aspettarlo? Perché il trailer promette bene. Perché il produttore è il creatore di Lost o di ALIAS (il miglior telefilm della storia dei telefilm, pari solo a I Soprano).
NOTE: il mostro, a due mesi dall’uscita, è sconosciuto. Infatti il cast è riuscito a tenere segreto l’identità del nemico. Inoltre è un film girato interamente con una tecnica che lo fa sembrare una ripresa amatoriale (in pratica, tutto girato come il trailer).

No Country for old man

E’ il nuovo film dei fratelli Cohen.

Gone Baby Gone

La trama conta poco.
Trailer
Perché aspettarlo? Perché è tratto da un libro del mio scrittore preferito, Dennis Lehane. Perché dentro ci sono due dei migliori personaggi mai creati per un libro. Perché dello stesso scrittore hanno tratto film come Mystic River.
NOTE: a me sta sulle palle Ben Afflec, che qui è il regista. Poi, chissà come gli appartiene, tra il cast c’è anche un certo Casey Affleck, che interpreta il detective protagonista. Ha il viso troppo giovane per quel personaggio, ma dal trailer sembra essere uscito un bel film.

Be Kind Rewind

Un uomo, il cui cervello diventa magnetizzato, distrugge involontariamente tutte le cassette nel negozio di video di un suo amico. Per soddisfare il cliente più leale del negozio, un’anziana donna con segni di demenza, i due uomini cominciano a fare i remake dei film perduti.
Un film di Michel Gondry. Con Jack Black, Danny Glover, Mos Def
Trailer (se non guardi il trailer ti cancello)
Perché aspettarlo? Perché c’è Jack Black. Perché la trama è genialmente divertente. Perché c’è Mos Def (lo stesso di Guida Galattica per Autostoppisti, il tizio di colore). Perché il regista è lo stesso di Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (se mi lasci ti cancello).

Altri film da attendere (ma ho scritto cinque e quindi non posso farci la scheda, ma anche questi valgono parecchio): Enchanted (in italiano Come d’incanto), Nella valle di Elah (perché è lo stesso regista e sceneggiatore di Crash – Contatto fisico), La promessa dell’assassino, Bee Movie, American Gangster, Into the Wild, Juno.

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Cinque vecchi post tra quelli che preferisco:

Ho il tuo problema usato – Le nozze d’oro – Profumo – Risposte, a domande che non ne hanno – Amore pioggia

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Cinque canzoni che dovete ascoltare (queste sono canzoni che mi tengono compagnia quando ho il turno di pomeriggio in mediateca, poiché il pomeriggio stai solo tu e la compagnia serve):

Offeso, di Niccolò Fabi e Fiorella Mannoia – Quelli che benpensano, di Frankie HI nrg – Fake Plastic Trees, dei Radiohead – Nel mio letto, dei Verdena (non guardate il video, vi distrarrà solo) – Io ti cercherò, di Jovanotti

Joel and Ethan Coen have proved to be masters at mixing the horrific and humorous, the ominous and outrageous nowhere more so than in their latest film, the savage crime saga “No Country for Old Men.”

The brothers take familiar Hollywood genres film noir (“The Man Who Wasn’t There”), the gangster tale (“Miller’s Crossing”), the true-crime thriller (“Fargo”), the screwball comedy (“O Brother, Where Art Thou?”) and filter them into something uniquely their own.

Like that “Barton Fink feeling” a studio executive blathers on about in “Barton Fink,” their tale of a playwright in Hollywood, there’s a “Coen brothers feeling” that can defy definition, but you know it when you see it in their films.

“No Country for Old Men” co-star Josh Brolin calls it “Planet Coen.”

“They find the absurdity of who we are in every situation. That’s what they’re fantastic at. Even in a movie as tense as this, they give you the ability to kind of chuckle and inhale and take a breath,” said Brolin. “You never know what’s going to happen around the next Coen brothers corner, whether it be fate or absurdity or a lack of humor where you’re positive they’re going to inject a joke.”

Adapted by the Coens from Cormac McCarthy’s novel, “No Country for Old Men” centers on three characters. There’s a wily Texan (Brolin) who stumbles on a drug deal gone bloodily wrong in the desert and makes off with $2 million left behind among the corpses. There’s a relentless, inhumanly brutish killer (Javier Bardem) tracking Brolin to recover the cash. And there’s a valorous but wayworn sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) pursuing both men. The film opens Friday.

At its core, the story seems a bit conventional for the filmmakers who made yodeling the musical backdrop for baby-snatching in “Raising Arizona” and turned a urine-stained carpet into a key plot catalyst for a crime comedy set among bowlers in “The Big Lebowski”

But the balance of black humor and brutish violence, the sense of an otherworldly America in the vast Texas panorama, and the abrupt turns McCarthy sneaks in late in the story set the novel squarely on Planet Coen.

“It immediately seemed like the kind of thing we could make a movie out of, largely by virtue of what kind of story it is, which for Cormac is a little anomalous compared to his other things,” Ethan Coen, 50, told The Associated Press during an interview with his brother. “I don’t know what to call it pulpier, more of a chase-action thing.”

“On one level,” continued Joel Coen, 52, “it’s a very straightforward crime story, and on another level, it’s not that at all. Without sort of giving away the ending, he does certain things in terms of the structure of the story, the way the story moves, and what happens sort of three-quarters of the way through, which are quite unexpected and unusual and probably unique in terms of what one would expect from this kind of story. There’s nothing predictable about this.”

There has been nothing predictable about the Coens’ work since their 1984 debut with another violent Texas crime tale, “Blood Simple,” starring Frances McDormand, Joel Coen’s wife.

They seemed like pure fringe players with their early films, including “Raising Arizona,” “Miller’s Crossing” and “Barton Fink.” The latter earned the top honor at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, but it baffled many viewers, as did their next film, “The Hudsucker Proxy” the films helping to solidify the Coens as cult favorites well outside the mainstream.

Then came “Fargo,” a surprise commercial success that grabbed seven Academy Award nominations, best picture and director among them, and won the best-actress Oscar for McDormand and the original-screenplay prize for the Coens.

“Fargo” spun the tragic farce of a real-life kidnapping in the Coens’ home state of Minnesota, which seems like an alien landscape as the story plays out in a seamless mix of the grotesque and hilarious.

Likewise, “No Country for Old Men” twirls the audience through a whirlwind of bloodshed leavened with wicked laughs.

Strangely, it’s Bardem, the film’s most menacing figure, around whom much of the humor revolves as he brushes people and obstacles aside with stoic tenacity and a cache of outlandish weapons.

Bardem said he necessarily had to play such a ruthless character straight. The comedy came from the Coens.

“They made it happen by the way they put it together,” Bardem said. “Thank God, I didn’t know it, because then I didn’t pretend to be funny. I had my job to do, which was to be dead serious and frightening. So when they put it together, they put it together with a reaction from another person listening to me. That makes it funny.

“That’s why the Coens are the Coens. They know how to put it together to really release the tension and make you laugh out of fear, out of tension.”

“They understand that even when the bleakest things happen in life, there’s humor there,” said Kelly Macdonald, who plays the wife of Brolin’s character in “No Country for Old Men.” “That’s one of the biggest human traits. It’s a coping mechanism or something.”

The Coens deflect attempts to analyze their work or the combination of light and dark that goes into it.

“It’s not like they’re separate ingredients,” Ethan Coen said. “There are some situations that you might react to by laughing or being horrified. Either way is fine with us, but again, they’re not like two different ingredients that you measure and pour in. It’s kind of the fact that you can react either way that’s appealing.”

“We’re sometimes surprised when people laugh at certain places, although we’re never bothered by it,” Joel Coen said. “Every now and then, you get a laugh in really unexpected places.”

His brother recalled one such scene that surprised the Coens in advance screenings since the film debuted at last spring’s Cannes festival:

“Javier is in this motel room, and he unzips a bag and takes out a gun with this big honkin’ silence on the end of it, and people laugh,” Ethan Coen said. “You go, `OK, I didn’t really expect that, but great.’”

“In that situation, it is quite funny. It’s horrifying at the same time it’s funny,” Joel Coen said.

The Coens’ next film leans more toward funny than horrifying, though Ethan Coen guaranteed that both qualities will be well-represented.

“Burn After Reading” is a comic adventure reuniting them with “O Brother” star George Clooney, who co-stars with McDormand, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich and Richard Jenkins.

True to that Coen feeling, the brothers describe it as a yarn set in motion by the collision of two diverse cultures: the CIA and the physical-fitness world.

That juxtaposition reminded them of the time they met former Texas Gov. Ann Richards and described the plot of the film they were then working on, “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” with Billy Bob Thornton.

“We said, `It’s about a barber who wants to be a dry cleaner,’” Joel Coen said. “She looked at Ethan as well as me and said, `I’m trying to get excited about that.’”

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com

Cormac McCarthy and the Coen brothers. If you stop to think about it, it’s a wonder they’ve never teamed up before.

The revered writer and the acclaimed moviemakers share so much in common: a love of language, a drive to develop rich characters, an appreciation for the importance of a vivid sense of place and an innate ability to tell stories that take you in directions you’d never have expected from the outset.

“No Country for Old Men” marries the three men’s strengths in ways that are deceptively simple and profoundly moving, set against a harshly beautiful, seemingly endless expanse of scrub-brushed West Texas. (Thanks to the breathtaking work of a fourth man, the Coens’ longtime cinematographer and we say this all the time for a reason the great Roger Deakins.)

It’s vintage stuff for the writing-directing brothers, Joel and Ethan, a return to the location of their 1984 debut, “Blood Simple,” and the tone of their masterpiece, “Fargo.” It’s their best work in a while and it’s probably going to end up being the year’s best movie.

In adapting McCarthy’s 2005 novel about crime and carnage along the Rio Grande, the Coens stay mostly faithful to its structure while maintaining much of the author’s rhythmically clipped, colorful dialogue.

If you’ve read the book, you’ll be pleased with the choices they’ve made; if you haven’t, wait until after you’ve seen the film to do so. Allow yourself to be engrossed by its unpredictability. You’ll think you know what the movie is about until the absolute last shot in the film’s boldly enigmatic conclusion which will change your perception about everything you’ve seen in the preceding two hours. (Not everyone is as fond of the ending, by the way. Whether or not you respond favorably, it’ll definitely leave you thinking.)

Set in 1980, “No Country” follows three vastly different men tied together by a big-money drug deal gone wrong which sounds like a standard-issue genre picture. It’s anything but.

Sporting the same shaggy mustache he wore in “American Gangster,” Josh Brolin is perfectly cast as Llewelyn Moss, a stoic welder and Vietnam veteran who stumbles upon the botched transaction’s bloody aftermath, finds a briefcase stuffed with $2 million and impulsively makes off with it. Brolin presents a sort of rugged everyman trying to get by, blessed with more instincts than brains. He’s not a bad guy, just in over his head besides, wouldn’t you grab the money, too? (And Kelly Macdonald, as his wife, shows more spark as the film goes along than her sweetness might initially indicate.)

Meanwhile, Javier Bardem is chilling as Anton Chigurh, the mysterious, murderous psychopath stalking Llewelyn to get the cash back. With his oddly wholesome bowl haircut and the coin he flips to give his potential victims a chance to bet on their lives, Bardem has given us one of the great, inspired turns of movie villainy. You have absolutely no idea where he might go from scene to scene with this quietly methodical yet wildly dangerous character, but you can bet something bad will happen once he gets there.

And Tommy Lee Jones is firmly in his element as the pleasingly named Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, who’s tracking them both and lamenting the loss of a more honorable way of life in an increasingly senseless world. The lines in his face, the deadpan sarcasm in that seasoned twang of a voice, the no-nonsense look in his eyes clearly, Jones could have played this part in his sleep. Thankfully for us, he didn’t.

(The supporting cast, led by Woody Harrelson as a mercenary who’s also on the hunt for the money, is just as well-chosen, down to the smallest role. Standouts include Beth Grant as Llewelyn’s mother-in-law, Gene Jones as a gas station owner and Rodger Boyce as another sheriff.)

The Coens skip seamlessly between all three men, through trailer parks and cheap motels and back and forth across the Mexican border, brilliantly building tension while sprinkling some much needed, very dark humor amid the bloodshed. (Deputy: “It’s a mess, ain’t it, sheriff?” Sheriff: “If it ain’t, it’ll do till the mess gets here.”)

McCarthy knows this place and knows these people (if you don’t believe it, take a trip out there yourself to Marfa or Marathon) and his writing simultaneously reflects a world-weariness and a fundamental sense of optimism. The violence in his story, in this film, will make you gasp because of its prevalence, because it’s unromanticized and unadorned, but that’s only superficially what “No Country for Old Men” is about.

Sitting in his favorite diner, reading in the newspaper about a couple suspected of a gruesome killing spree, Sheriff Bell ruefully remarks to his deputy, “Once you stop hearing sir and ma’am, the rest is sure to follow.” That simple tidbit of down-home wisdom is the key to a complex story about a complex world.

“No Country for Old Men,” a Miramax Films and Paramount Vantage release, is rated R for strong graphic violence and some language. Running time: 122 minutes. Four stars out of four.

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com