Oktober erscheint „How to be – Das Leben ist (k)ein Wunschkonzert“ auf DVD. Planet Twilight, Team Edward, Twilight Fans und Robert Pattinson Fans (z.B.) haben ein bisher unveröffentlichtes Foto aus “How to Be – Das Leben ist (k)ein Wunschkonzert” in verschiedenen Größen zum Download für Euch.

How to Be mit Twilight Superstar Robert Pattinson

yep, I'm trouble...

R

William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rebecca Pidgeon

Joseph: Do you like kids?
Ann: …I never saw the point of ‘em.
Joseph: Me too…

A movie production company descends on a small town in Vermont after being thrown out of a small town in New Hampshire.  Hilarity ensues…

Eh, so I lied, it’s not that hilarious.  It’s amusing at times, but not hilarious.

It would seem that the writer, or writers, thought it’s automatically funny to have multiple people having various, fast paced, angry conversations all overlapping each other.  I guess that’s supposed to be in contrast to the slow, small town life going on around them, but…big deal.

The only compelling aspect of the movie is Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character, plot-line, and performance.  He and Rebecca Pidgeon do a good job of easing their relationship along at a believable pace.  They’re also the source of most of the actual clever dialogue in the movie.

This movie could have fallen into hateful territory pretty easily for me, but it didn’t, so even if it wasn’t overly amusing or interesting, it wasn’t a chore to watch.  It’s just forgettable.

10 – 4 for not being as funny as it thinks it is – 1 for being very predictable + .3 for the PSH storyline/performance = 5.3

2000: State and main di David Mamet

Critica giustamente entusiasta (“Il regista rivela una volta di più la sua eccezionale arte della commedia”, FilmUp. “Gli ottimi attori…, l’impeccabile scansione teatrale di entrate e uscite, contribuiscono alla robusta confezione di questa messa in berlina del cinema”, Repubblica. “Profumo di Allen e di Cohen. E davvero non è poco”, MyMovies).

Feroce critica sul mondo del cinema (ma anche chi non vi appartiene non si salva), è un film sceneggiato e diretto da David Mamet, e quindi è un prodotto sprizzante ironia e intelligenza da tutti i pori.

Il commediografo americano (da qualche tempo prestato al cinema) non sbaglia un colpo: da La Casa dei Giochi del 1987 ad Heist del 2001 realizza veri gioielli in cui non sai se ammirare maggiormente l’arguzia dei dialoghi, la straordinaria abilità nel dirigere gli attori, la conduzione registica invisibile e beffarda.

Sembra una scintillante pochade questo Hollywood, Vermont, questo racconto di una troupe cinematografica che invade un tranquillo paesino i cui abitanti sono fin troppo disposti ad abbandonare i propri valori per le accecanti luci dello spettacolo: una farsa di estrema attualità, un gioco ad incastro in cui tutto funziona alla perfezione.

E’ un film che tutti gli amanti del cinema dovrebbero vedere (un delitto che il film sia stato distribuito nelle sale in un periodo in cui il pubblico inizia a disertarle… e con due anni di colpevole ritardo!). Ma non solo.
E’ un’opera raccomandabile a tutti quei registi italiani che amano tanto fare ‘gli affreschi’ di qualsiasi cosa senza dare al loro prodotto un contenuto, una storia da seguire e che ti coinvolga.

Da lodare senza riserve la prova degli attori, in una vera gara di bravura e che sono tutti da citare: William H. Macy, Alec Baldwyn, Charles Duning, Sarah Jessika Parker, Rebecca Pidgeon, Julia Stiles.
Un encomio particolare a Philips Seymour Hoffman (appena reduce da Flawles dove interpretava un travolgente transessuale), una performance da Oscar!

Pubblicato su Cineocchio
tuttelerecensioni

Regia: David Mamet
Sceneggiatura: David Mamet
Cast: William H. Macy, Alec Baldwyn, Philips Seymour Hoffman, Charles Duning, Sarah Jessika Parker, Rebecca Pidgeon, Julia Stiles.
Paese: USA, Francia (2000)
Genere: Commedia
Durata: 105’ circa
Uscita Italia: 31 Maggio 2002
Uscita USA: 22 Dicembre 2000
Trama:
Sfrattato dal set originario nel New Hampshire, il regista è nei guai: deve trovare al più presto una location che possa ragionevolmente passare per una cittadina del XIX secolo, epoca in cui è ambientato il film che intende realizzare.
Note:
Su IMDb, l’elenco degli innumerevoli  riconoscimenti e i premi al film.

Redbelt (2008)

Dir. David Mamet

Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tim Allen, Emily Mortimer, Alice Braga, Rodrigo Santoro, Joe Mantegna, Rebecca Pidgeon, Ricky Jay, John Machado, Max Martini

The cinema of David Mamet is often populated by rogues, crooks out to make a fast buck, and they play intricate games that confound and dazzle the audience in their trickery – see The Spanish Prisoner (1997) or House of Games (1987). Redbelt, his latest film, takes place in the world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu transplanted to Los Angeles and infused with a noir-spirit.

Chiwetel Ejiofor is the quiet centre of this film, playing Mike Terry, owner of a Jiu-Jitsu club in a rundown quarter of the city. His apprentice pupil, Joe Ryan (Max Martini showing more versatility than he does in the Mamet produced television series The Unit) is a police officer. Following a difficult training session, an accidental encounter with a lawyer, played by Emily Mortimer, kick-starts the narrative proper. To attempt to sum up the twists and contortions of Mamet’s tale that will bring Mike Terry into contact with a movie star (Tim Allen, utterly convincing for perhaps the first time in his career) crooked sports promoters and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legends. At times it seems as if the contrivances of the script are about to overwhelm the narrative, but Mamet holds it together quite successfully.

Mamet is helped by his cast, many of them regulars from his previous work, and many his stock company – including wife Rebecca Pidgeon, and the ever irascible Ricky Jay – and these players speak Mamet’s lines better than anybody. They instinctively understand his rhythms, the cadence of his writing. Not a beat feels wasted.

Some critics have said that they feel the ending is weak, that Mamet fails to resolve many of the story stands that have been juggled. I feel those critics have missed the deeper resonances in his work – by accepting the red belt at the end Mike Terry is taking the money, admitting defeat, realising that the codes by which he has lived his life have not worked. It is a bleak ending, and perhaps not the one many would expect from the genre – Rocky must always win, the sports team must triumph, this is the formula – but Mamet is a writer who confounds the formula, and that makes him a great writer. And though there are a few strands that remain open ended, the construction of drama allows for this – and I think perhaps those same critics would have been negative against the film even if he had resolved them all, and would accuse him of being too neat.

At times in this film I was reminded of that other great noir-sports film – Jules Dassin’s masterly Night and the City (1950). That filmed used wrestling as its background, and through the codes of the sport one was revealed the characters and their mistakes. Mamet pulls the same trick and in doing so manages to make some intriguing comments on sport and its heroes.

Redbelt has also been criticised for its handling of the fight sequences – that they seem poorly edited or do not deliver the expected impact – but again I feel this maybe a misunderstanding of the reviewer who has been misled into thinking Redbelt is a sports film. It is not, it simply has sports as its background, in much the same way as Million Dollar Baby (2004) is not really about boxing.

Redbelt has a beautiful colour palette as well, photographed by Paul Thomas Anderson regular Robert Elswit (an Oscar winner for There Will Be Blood (2007)). Elswit knows how to light a scene, and in the final series of conflicts that end the movie light and darkness collide, the colours vibrate and Redbelt really comes to life. One can even see Ejiofor’s training (reputedly 12 hours a day), as he throws his whole body into fight. This physical collision is a beautiful counterpoint to the intellectual conflict of the previous hour.

Redbelt is not a great film, but it is a good one while it lasts, and Chiwetel Ejiofor is its beating heart. More and more this actor impresses, and he just maybe the best British actor of his generation. Ejiofor is why one should watch Redbelt, and to enjoy the verbal fireworks from a playwright, who even on an off day, sounds better than most.

Redbelt is in UK cinemas from 26 September.

REDBELT (Estados Unidos, Drama, 99 Minutos)
Dirección: David Mamet.
Guión: David Mamet.
Reparto: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alice Braga, Tim Allen, Emily Mortimer, Rodrigo Santoro, Rebecca Pidgeon, Randy Couture.
Música: Stephen Endelman.

Valoración: 8/10

Resumen: Mike Terry es uno de los mejores luchadores de jiu-jitsu en activo. Sin embargo, y a pesar de sus habilidades, Mike vive ajeno al mundo profesional entrenando a sus alumnos en el arte de la defensa personal en un humilde gimnasio. Para él, el único sendero que debe seguir un guerrero es el del honor, y no el de una competición adulterada. Sin embargo, una larga serie de circunstancias obligarán a Mike a luchar por conseguir el más preciado premio para un luchador: el cinturón rojo.

Crítica: Dice David Mamet que la forma de escribir un guión es introduciendo a un personaje en una escena en busca de algo. Al final de la escena, el personaje aún no ha encontrado lo que desea, por lo que pasa a la siguiente escena en su busca. Este sencillo aunque imparable motor dramático es una filosofía estrictamente aplicada en Redbelt. Mike Terry, personaje interpretado notablemente por Chiwetel Ejiofor, busca con persistencia algo que no encuentra en ninguna parte. En el mundo de Redbelt, en nuestro propio mundo, el honor es un elemento casi mitológico del que sólo unos pocos han oído hablar, y apenas una minoría practica casi en secreto. Es una lacra, una tara -como las que impone el propio Terry a sus alumnos- que impide competir y vencer en igualdad de condiciones. En ese mundo, Terry es un paria. Un tullido que haciendo lo que debe se ve machacado por la vida y por sus semejantes. El honor no sólo ha pasado de moda, sino que es visto como una enfermedad que padecen sólo los ingenuos. Los inocentes. Los bondadosos. Mamet empuja a su protagonista, obligado por el resto de personajes, a dejar atrás sus principios y convicciones para sobrevivir en un escenario en el que el cruel mundo real destruye sin piedad las ilusiones, y en el que competir significa devorar al contrincante. Redbelt es una película notable precisamente porque es una película. Un filme auténtico, con una narración impecable -que habría ganado con algunos minutos más-, unos personajes condicionados por sus circunstancias -sus miedos, sus ambiciones- y una moraleja final. No importa tanto vencer, sino cómo se vence.

Un film del 2008, regia di David Mamet, con Emily Mortimer / Chiwetel Ejiofor / Max Martini / Rebecca Pidgeon. Prodotto da Sony Pictures Releasing Italia (99min)

Azione / Drammatico

Mike Terry è un maestro di Jiu-jitsu che ha sempre evitato l’ambiente delle sfide agonistiche e dei ring, preferendo insegnare invece l’auto-difesa in una palestra di Los Angeles. La sua vita però cambia drasticamente quando inizia a lavorare per il cinema, mettendo la sua professionalità al servizio delle celebrità di Hollywood.

Si en el primer poster de Redbelt Chiwetel Ejiofor acaparaba todo el protagonismo, esta vez se reparte entre el ejército de compañeros de renombre con el que cuenta el maestro David Mamet. Alice Braga, Tim Allen, Emily Mortimer, Rodrigo Santoro, Rebecca Pidgeon y Randy Couture participan en la película que veremos en España a partir del 8 de Agosto.

Un film del 2008, regia di Oliver Irving, con Robert Pattinson / Rebecca Pidgeon / Jeremy Hardy / Powell Jones. Prodotto da FullMoon Distribution (85min)

Commedia / Drammatico

Un giovane musicista in crisi esistenziale, convinto di essere un “enigmatico poeta”, decide che è arrivato il momento di agire per cambiare la propria deprimente vita. Dopo aver letto un libro che diventa sua fonte d’ispirazione, convince il suo autore a recarsi a Londra per diventare il suo personale life coach.

La senda del guerrero es el único camino que le importa a David Mamet en Redbelt. El director reconstruye el mundo de la lucha callejera en su nuevo filme, para el que parece haberse tomado muy en serio la ideosincrasia de su protagonista. El honor, el respeto y el deber son las máximas de un antiguo campeón que por diversas circunstancias, deberá volver a luchar en una competición que deplora. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alice Braga, Tim Allen, Emily Mortimer, Rodrigo Santoro, Rebecca Pidgeon y Randy Couture protagonizan la película.

DESCARGA DIRECTA ALTA DEFINICIÓN

De todos los regresos imaginados para David Mamet, problemente Redbelt sea el más inesperado. El cineasta se centra en el mundo de la lucha urbana en su nuevo filme para el que cuenta con Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alice Braga, Tim Allen, Emily Mortimer, Rodrigo Santoro, Rebecca Pidgeon y Randy Couture. Un antiguo campeón, con su vida alejada ya de los combates, se verá forzado a volver al ring.

DESCARGA DIRECTA

David Mamet has built his reputation of Hollywood’s top script doctor thanks to his talent with words. Those words often belonged to sections of vocabulary not particularly liked by MPAA. So, it was quite a surprise to see THE WINSLOW BOY, David Mamet’s 1999 drama, receive G-rating, something that only the harmless family-friendly cartoons can expect to get these days.

The family-friendly rating can be, at least partially, explained by the film’s setting. The story brings viewer to the world where four-letter words weren’t supposed to exist – upper-to-middle class England in the beginning of 20^th Century. It is Christmas 1911 and Arthur Winslow (played by Nigel Hawthorne), retired London banker, looks forward to the marriage of his daughter Catherine (played by Rebecca Pidgeon) to Captain John Waterstone (played by Aden Gillett), son of even more respected family. This bliss is shattered when Arthur’s 13-year old son Ronnie (played by Guy Edwards) returns home after being expelled from elite naval academy over alleged theft. When Ronnie says that he was wrongfully accused, Arthur sees no other alternative but to defend the honour of his family with an unprecedented action – he sues British Admiralty. Since it is almost unimaginable that a private individual could sue the state, he hires the best legal aid he could get – Sir Robert Morton (played by Jeremy Northam), member of Parliament and one of the best legal minds of the era. Catherine, left-wing suffragette, is not so enthusiastic towards Morton, who happens to be conservative opponent of women’s suffrage, but she feels attracted to his legal skills. In the meantime, the case creates media hysteria and puts the heavy toll on Winslows – they are forced to sell family assets to cover legal expenses and Captain Waterstone breaks engagement with Catherine.

THE WINSLOW BOY is based on real events that served as inspiration for 1946 stage play by Terence Rattigan and four subsequent screen adaptations. In this version Mamet clearly points to the stage origin of the film – the most important event, which has sparked the drama, happens off-screen; same goes for the entire legal procedure. The audience is therefore left only with the effects of those events on the characters. And this deprives the film of the main dramatic conflict. Winslows are portrayed as loving and functioning family – embodiment of all the social virtues of Edwardian England. Even the encroaching modernity in the form of Catherine’s feminism is harmless.

In many films this could be a major problem, but Mamet saw it as a challenge. He manages to keep the audience’s attention with excellent dialogue. He also paid great attention to period details – despite being shot in Massachussetts, THE WINSLOW BOY perfectly recreates Edwardian England. This could be attributed to Alaric Jans’ music score which sounds very much like the works of Edward Elgar. But the film’s greatest asset is acting. Dependable cast, which includes names like Sir Nigel Hawthorne, Jeremy Northam and Mamet’s wife Rebecca Pidgeon, compensates for the lack of film’s dramatic potential. THE WINSLOW BOY might be triumph of style over substance, but sometimes, like in this case, style is what separates good from bad films.

RATING: 6/10 (++)