I’m not going to go into the fact that just in time for the holidays Nirvana’s Bleach has been remastered and a DVD is available for their Live at Reading show. The rock magazine Kerrang placed this show as one of the “100 shows that shook the world.” There is a really good commentary in Newsweek on these two releases, both the live at Reading show from Universal Music Group (Geffen) and Bleach from Sub Pop. I’ll be featuring two tracks from Nirvana tonight from these.

Here’s a famous clip from the festival:

Listen in tonight at KRUI 89.7 fm or online here. I’ll be playing between 8 and 10 pm.

1. Nirvana, Live at Reading, Come as You Are (1992)
2. Nirvana, Bleach (20th Anniversary), School (Live At Pine Street Theater)
This album originally came out in 1989 with Subpop and is Nirvana’s debut album.

3. Low, Things We Lost in the Fire (2001), Dinosaur Act (A Request)
4. Sonic Youth, EVOL, Expressway to Yr. Skull (A.K.A. Madonna, Sean and Me)
I wanted to play this track during the Halloween show but didn’t get to it. It was released in 1986.
5. Mudhoney, Superfuzz Bigmuff, Sweet Young Thing Ain’t Sweet No More
Another Sub Pop release that came out in 1988.
6. Iggy Pop, The Idiot (1977), Funtime
7. Melvins, Nude with Boots (2008), The Savage Hippy
The Melvins formed back in 1982.

8. Scratch Acid, The Greatest Gift (1991 compilation off of Touch and Go), Owner’s Lament
9. Mark Lanegan (of the Screaming Trees), The Winding Sheet, Mockingbirds
This was released in 1989 off of Sub Pop records.
10. Babes in Toyland, Painkillers (1993), He’s My Thing
11. Siouxsie & The Banshees, Kiss in the Dreamhouse, Slowdive
This album was released in 1982 and recently rereleased and expanded this year.
12. Bikini Kill, Pussy Whipped (1993 on Kill Rock Stars), Rebel Girl
This track is #455 on Blender’s “500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born”.
13. Heavens to Betsy, Calculated (1993 on Kill Rock Stars), Decide
Corine Tucker is on Guitar for these guys, she’s also the main vocalist for Sleater-Kinney
14. Pixies, Doolittle (1989 on 4AD), Hey
This album changed my life.

15. Pavement, Wowee Zowee (1995), Kennel District
16. Superchunk, Here’s Where the Strings Come In (Merge 1995), Certain Stars
17. The Jesus & Mary Chain, Honey’s Dead (1992), Reverence
18. Gang of Four, Entertainment! (1979), Outside the Trains Don’t Run on Time
19. Magazine, Magic Murder and the Weather (1981), About the Weather
20. PJ Harvey, Is This Desire? (1998), Joy
Here’s another album that changed my life and that I might take with me to the grave. This is art.
21. Flipper, Generic (debut in 1982), Nothing
22. Cat Power & Steve Shelley, Dear Sir (1995), Headlights
23. The Replacements, Let it Be (1984), Androgynous
24. The Swell Maps, A Trip To Marineville (1979), Vertical Slum
25. Mission of Burma, The Definitive Editions Compilation, Ballad of Johnny Burma
26. The Breeders, Mountain Battles, Overglazed
Their 4th album released in 2008
27. Fugazi, Steady Diet of Nothing, Runaway Return

The other day while surfing TV channels, looking for something, anything remotely interesting to watch, I finally settled for some movie on an English movie channel. Little did I know I was going to fall in love…

The movie in question is ‘Things we lost in the fire’. I is a moving story about two people coming together in search of hope. The movie revolves around how Audrey (Halle Berry) a recent widow invites her late husband’s best friend Jeremy (Benicio del Toro) – a recovering drug addict to stay with her family. The story is about how these two individuals try to cope with their loss and addiction.

The performances were nothing short of brilliant and the story unfolds like a book…constructed page after page. But what really got to me…was Benicio’s sincerity. The man is simply ‘WOW’. His portrayal of a junkie is so real. It’s as if it came to him naturally. Also he makes probably the sexiest drug addict I’ve ever seen! I knew I just had to go out n get myself the DVD – which I did – today.

So yeah basically now I’m hooked to him. I can’t get enough of him. I’ve been reading up on the man and basically trying to watch every movie he’s ever starred in. I’m kinda happy with my new obsession.

But then again I think it is worth falling for a guy who is not just a great actor but who is really passionate about his art, who likes to immerse himself into the role that he is portraying and who knows how to make it work. I think he is immensely talented and seriously hot! His raw sexual appeal is intoxicating. Now I have one more thing to add to my list of things I want to do in my lifetime – Meet Benicio del Toro!

I want to thank my homie Conrad for another great post yesterday and man, just what a great message. Especially with all the intolerance in the world and every crazy thing out there going on, particularly of late, the situation in Iran. Conrad Noir is going to take it upon himself to just heal the whole fucking world, one internet reader after another, right?

Also, I’d like to share with him one of my favorite tracks by a band, I really like, the Delgados:

The song is called “All You Need Is Hate” off their brilliant album Hate, and you know what? I love it. I happily discovered the Delgados about two years ago, right around the time I was re-discovering Low, and I’m happy to report that while I do love Stars, the Delgados were Stars before Stars were. I just wish that the video for “Hate” was… better. But that won’t stop me from sharing the video for one of my favorite Stars songs with you. Here’s “Window Bird.”

Then, there’s Low, which I mentioned before. I don’t know how to describe Low to you, or not in a level of detail I care to. They’re a literate and somewhat sad to the core (or deeper) type rock band (or slowcore band, more accurately), again similar to Stars in a lot of ways. There album, Things We Lost In The Fire, is essential (and it’s where that Benecio Del Toro and Halle Berry movie got it’s name from), and so is the album, Trust. Since I’ve already preached hate here apparently, I’ll leave you powerfully, poignantly sad here with their song “Point Of Disgust” from the aforementioned Trust. Maybe music will breach the divide between all of us and heal our hard hearts? I sincerely doubt it, but you never know. Enjoy the song and have a nice day.

Filmer jag sett i vinter

• Lars and the real girl, Liten lustig rulle med Ryan Gosling som är lågmäld men charmig. Helt klart sevärd.
• Burn after reading, Tokrolig film med Brad Pitt, George Clooney bara för att nämna några. Helt klart sevärd.
• Ps. I love you, En charmig kärleksfilm med Gerard Butler och inte helt rätt för denna roll Hilary Swank. Gullig och sevärd.
• Half Nelson, Mörk men mänsklig och trots sitt mörker en väldigt sevärd rulle med Ryan Gosling.
• Öster om Eden, Ett för mig kärt återseende med James Dean. En mycket sevärd film regisserad av Elia Kazan
• The Notebook, En vacker kärleks saga som vi alla behöver titta på ibland. Också med Ryan Gosling och väldigt sevärd.
• Slumdog Millionaire, Suverän film med en hel drös välförtjänta Oscars i bagaget Väldigt sevärd.
• The Wrestler, En bra film för en mörk vinterdag, Sevärd men inget lyckopiller direkt.
• Batman the dark knight, Action, mörker, humor och Heath Ledger är fantastisk i sin sista filmroll. Helt klart sevärd.
• Things we lost in the fire, Vänskap, sorg, kärlek gör en väldigt sevärd film med Benicio Del Toro och Halle Berry.
• RocknRolla, En Guy Ritchie film som är precis som dom var innan kalkonrullen “Swept Away”. Bra och smart humor.Och så är ju läckerbiten Gerard Butler med i den. Klart sevärd.
• Dear Frankie, En otroligt fin kärlekshistoria på ett lågmält och vanligt sätt, med Gerard Butler och Emily Mortimer. Jag absolut älskar denna film.
• The Departed, Kan den bli något annat än bra egentligen med Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio,Matt Damon, Ray Winstone och Martin Scorsese som regissör. Väldigt sevärd maffia rulle.
• Blood Diamond, Film om den smutsiga diamnt industrin som verkligen berör och får en att tänka både 1 och 2 gånger. Väldigt sevärd film som bara bekräftar att Leo DiCaprio har vuxit upp och ser ut som en man numera.
• The Revolutionary road, En bra film men lite av ett sömnpiler. Leo DiCaprio och Kate Winslet är väldigt bra men den var bättre i bokform.
• Body of lies, Nja inte någon favorit direkt. Leo DiCaprio och Russel Crowe är bra men jag hade väntat mig en bättre film.
• Milk, Bra film men lite långdragen. Och Sean Penn är lysande som Harvey Milk.

Och filmer som ligger och väntar.

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Brad Pitt
• The Reader, Kate Winslet

There seems to be plenty of division over whether 2008 was a successful year at the cinema. Certainly, as the world collapsed around us in all other respects (or so it seemed), the movie world kept up a steady output and, at least in Hollywood terms, continued to turn a profit.

There were enough films to both keep minds racing and allow them to shut down, and films from either side of this divide fared as well as one another.

There was plenty more comic book nonsense in cinemas, but also some of the best films of that newfangled sub-genre thus far came out in 2008.

At the Oscars and the various other award shows, there were few surprises, but also few cries of films being undeserving of their awards as in other recent years.

Even here in Ireland the Irish film industry reacted to one musical award success by producing some of the best Irish films in over a decade, slowly beginning the long crawl out of the gutter of inadequacy.

There were losses of course; Heath Ledger died early in the year and left expectant fans gobsmacked, while Paul Newman and Sydney Pollack – to name but two – passed after tremendous careers in cinema.

There were films I was sorry to miss; I was too cowardly to see 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days alone, and couldn’t find anyone who dared accompany me. Waltz with Bashir came out when there was simply no time available to see it. Man on Wire also passed me by. These and many more will be caught up with in the coming months.

There were disappointments as well, mostly in films by reliable filmmakers, and indeed in reliable franchises. Hellboy 2 smacked of fanboyism instead of relishing in the same beautiful darkness of del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth. Indiana Jones returned; needlessly. And James Bond’s 22nd outing was so sloppy it sadly undid much of the greatness of Casino Royale.

As for me, I personally had a great year, cinematically speaking. The highlights are numerous; watching Lawrence of Arabia in 70mm as the centenary of David Lean’s life passed by (I also saw Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and Brief Encounter for the first time over the year); stumbling upon Wings of Desire, Amores Perros, The Leopard and many others for the first time; watching Crank with a selection of my closest, and most sugared-up, friends at an absurd hour of the night. Laughing til I could no longer breathe at Robo Vampire. These are the sort of films you never forget not just because of how great (or terrible) they are but because of where and how and who you were at the time you saw them.

Similarly there were other special, more personal moments. I had the privilege of interviewing both Will Ferrell and Michael Palin in the space of just a few months. At the Irish premier of There Will Be Blood I had a remarkable – if utterly terrifying – encounter with Daniel Day-Lewis. Jeremy Irons invited me to dinner, though never followed through.

As well as all that, this blog was begun.

Thus far in 2009 the crop of films looks tantalising, and one can easily look forward to Milk or Revolutionary Road as much as one can to Watchmen or even the sequel to Transformers. Here’s hoping for as memorable a 2009.

And now, what you’ve been waiting for, here’s my personal selection of the best films I saw in 2008.

(Note: this list is made up entirely of new films released in Ireland in 2008, that I saw. Thus, certain films released internationally in 2007, such as Juno, are present here. In turn, late 2008 international releases, such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, will not appear until next year.)

20. Lust, Caution
Ang Lee’s follow-up to Brokeback Mountain was somewhat of a letdown, and was undoubtedly overlong, but the photography, taking in countless greys and greens, was beautiful, and the central performance by Tang Wei was superb. A shot late in the film, of a diamond-laden ring representing betrayal finding its equilibrium on a hard wooden table, was one of the year’s most impressing images.

19. Things We Lost in the Fire

The American debut of Susanne Bier was disappointing for reasons somewhat out of her control. The script’s abandoning of its fractured storyline after the first act was unsettling, and the casting of Benicio del Toro in a film so similar in feel to 21 Grams was a mistake. But it was shot in a very personal style that felt distinctly un-American, and for which it went largely unrecognised by critics and cinemagoers. The performance by Micah Berry (no relation to Halle) as the young son was notable, while David Duchovny gave what may stand to be the performance of his career.

18. Kung Fu Panda
Dreamworks may not have broken the mould with this latest animal caper, but it certainly moved into a more mature, less spoofing area of family comedy with some clever gags and superbly arranged action. Sweet in nature and low on character development, it took delight in its own silliness and provided some splendid animation, particularly in its opening sequence.

17. Lars and the Real Girl
Sweet may not be the word, in fact, Lars and the Real Girl was at times undeniably creepy, but it had buckets of wit to support itself on. The story of a man so awkward and retreated that he can only express himself through the love he shares (romantically, only) for a life-size sex doll is so inventive that it could hardly be anything less than charming.

16. Juno

Perhaps lacking the ambition of Thank You For Smoking, Juno certainly had heart, a solid script by Diablo Cody and an adorable cast. Ellen Page got the majority of the credit, but really it was Michael Cera as the stupefyingly realistic teen dad-to-be and JK Simmons and Allison Janney as Juno’s reluctantly supportive parents who deserve the most credit. The quirky soundtrack and dialogue added to the fun of the proceedings and let the film skirt around its unwillingness to genuinely tackle the issue of teen pregnancy.

15. Iron Man

Comic book mayhem got a whole bag of cool dropped on it this year. Robert Downey Jr played Tony Stark/Iron Man like a father hastily unwrapping his son’s new train set on Christmas morning. Gwyneth Paltrow emerged from who-knows-where to play his long-suffering and ignored love interest with more class than the film deserved. Yes, it was all a little rushed, the villain was terrible and the final action sequence was a mess, but – hey look! Another explosion! Fun!

14. Cloverfield
Seriously, who needs well-developed characters when you have nauseating camerawork and a giant alien crab-lizard tearing up Manhattan?! The night vision subway sequence was superbly built-up and executed, while the whole film gave off a 9/11 but with popcorn feel.

13. Caramel

As sweet as its delicious title, this Lebanese delight from all-round talent Nadine Labaki was the film most deserving of out-the-door queues of chick flick-eager women. Beautifully acted and shot, Labaki chose to ignore the politics and strife of her country and focus on the simple pleasures and sadness of everyday life.

12. Mamma Mia!

Not what one would consider a true piece of art, Mamma Mia! burst at the sides with so much energy and fun that even the dire karaoke singing of most of its leads couldn’t hold it down. Much prettier to look at than it ever needed to be, few were able to resist its cheeky charm.

11. Wanted

For years we’ve waited for a film in which two bullets, shot by two characters at one another, would collide in slow motion and fall to the ground. But who knew we were waiting for a keyboard, shattered across a man’s face, to spell out “Fuck you”? It turns out we were! Hectic, noisy and decidedly over-the-top, Wanted showed enough ‘mad as hell’ attitude to make it more memorable than your average blockbusting tripe. A cautiously curious squeak from a doomed rodent may have been the year’s funniest sound.

10. In Bruges

Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s feature-length debut was as dark as dark can be. Obvious targets for humour, such as overweight American tourists, were made funnier by Colin Farrell’s violently disrespectful delivery of lines we’ve all thought and bottled up inside. Brendan Gleeson also brought a feckload of fun to the proceedings as a simple hitman with a fondness for historical architecture. The duo were unfortunately outgunned and outclassed by the scenery-devouring Ralph Fiennes. The profanity was wonderful, though the ending attempted a philosophical sentiment that the film couldn’t really support.

9. Gomorrah

Violent and gritty, the underbelly of the criminal world has never been portrayed quite like this. There were times when it felt like the cameras were intruding on real events where it was dangerous to be filming. Amazingly, if simply, realised.

8. Persepolis

From Marjane Satrapi’s bittersweet graphic novel came a film that dared to change little from its source material. The growth of little Marji’s confidence in the film’s first act was reflected by her subsequent disillusionment with life in Iran and the world as a whole. Iraqi gasmasks became alien faces and burka-clad fundamentalists became snake-like nightmares through the simple but mesmerising animation. Honest and full of wit.

7. The Orphanage

At the same time clichéd and yet utterly original, The Orphanage was that rare joy – a horror film where nothing really happens. Using the simplest tricks of the trade – a motionless child, creaking floorboards, never-resting cameras – Juan Antonio Bayona created a house of largely unseen horrors, where everything you feared was only what you assumed you should fear. Likely to become a classic of the genre.

6. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

A late release in Ireland allowed this gem to make the cut for 2008. Harrowing and beautiful, the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby’s stroke-imprisoned body allowed for a rich story of hope and sentimentalism while allowing director Julian Schnabel to experiment with camera trickery, light and inventive editing. Mathieu Amalric gave one of the year’s best performances as Bauby, so full of life at one moment, the next, frozen.

5. The Dark Knight

Building on the back of Batman Begins, already a pinnacle of comic book movies, Christopher Nolan drew back on Bale’s Batman and allowed other characters to move to the fore, particularly Gary Oldman as Lieutenant Jim Gordon and Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent. Though hindered by a necrophiliac curiosity, Heath Ledger’s Joker was certainly one of the most impressive performances of the year. Broken up by clumsy plot holes and an at times overly complex narrative, The Dark Knight thrilled and impressed on several levels, and deserves much of the acclaim it has received.

4. There Will Be Blood

As grandiose in its scale as is the figure at its centre, this beast of a film could not be ignored in 2008. Violent in tone, like many of the best films this year it sought to look at what makes a man, and what a man can be at his worst. Succeeding through Daniel Day-Lewis’s authoritative and terrifying performance (one should not overlook the quality of the writing however), the finale answered that question of what happens when an unstoppable force hits a formerly immovable object. Paul Dano can easily be overlooked due to the towering Day-Lewis, but gave a truly impressive performance as Eli Sunday, a young man twelve fathoms out of his league. The music kept the viewer on edge, while the shocking photography echoed the greatest films of American cinema, from Greed to Gone with the Wind.

3. Hunger

More of an experiment with the possibilities of the camera than a political eulogy, Steve McQueen’s biopic-of-sorts of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands is slow, contemplative and utterly intense. From the beautiful yet ghastly art of a faeces-smeared prison wall and the wasting away of Sands’s body (Michael Fassbender is a revelation in the lead role), to the lighting of a cigarette by bloodied hands and the slow and haunting washing a prison floor, Hunger is nothing less than a work of art. It may become more famous for its exhausting single take sequence in which Sands debates his fate with Liam Cunningham’s priest, but the shot that sticks with you is a blinding beam of sunlight blasting through a bus window.

2. No Country For Old Men
The Coen brothers’ returned to their best this year, again taking a dark and twisted look at humanity, but this time with less wit, and a greater awareness of the potential of the story they were telling. Using Texas in 1980 as a wilderness representative of man’s emptiness, the story injected a pulse-pounding thriller into this void that never stopped pumping til the last minute. Eschewing a musical soundtrack in favour of fear-drenching silence, No Country took several thrilling set-pieces – a river escape from a vicious dog, a darkened stand-off at a hotel door – and divided them with moments of simple reflection that asked no deep questions but invited you to contemplate the answers. The decision to remove some of the most important sequences from the film adds to its sense of chaos and disorder. The stellar cast acted it with such honesty you might believe they were in fear of the script itself.

1. Wall·E

Arguably Pixar’s greatest achievement to date, Wall·E demands to be taken seriously. Almost utterly-dialogue free for the duration of its first act, the film builds a romance between two robots in a future where mankind has lost all sense of humanity. Building on the great debates of science fiction; what does it mean to be human?; what are the effects of our unending obsession with commercialism?; how will our relationship with nature affect the future?; Wall·E repackages them in a new form that is a glory to behold. Spellbindingly beautiful and sickeningly sweet, this animated marvel can appeal to anyone of any age, and will forever have something to say to those who watch it. That there is even a supply of heart-warming gags to boot only seals this as one of the most wonderful products of American cinema in a generation.

——————————————————————————————————

And now, as an extra treat, here are the five worst films of 2008, in my embittered opinion.

5. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Great talent wasted on a cacophony of wretched melodies, the clever production design couldn’t hide the hideous CGI nor excuse such a great collection of actors (Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall and Helena Bonham Carter) reduced to their very worst. The one amusing joke – an unexpected light-hearted slicing of the throat – is a gag, if you’ll forgive the pun, that gets utterly done to death.

4. Be Kind Rewind

An unpleasant and confused little oddity that sees two capable actors (Jack Black and Mos Def) compete for the title of most irritating. It not only never quite gets its tone right, it also came out about 10 years too late to be of any real relevance. The adoration it attempts to show for the cinema really comes off as a pornographic irreverence.

3. Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem

Two once-dominant franchises reduced to teen horror nonsense. One earnestly suspects that no-one involved knows what the word ‘requiem’ means.

2. The Other Boleyn Girl

As ugly as it is dull, this film forced two hours of the most horrid characters upon its unsuspecting victims. Eric Bana appears utterly bemused by where he is and what he is supposed to be doing, while Johansson and Portman repeatedly do their bests to out-bitch one another. The ending hilariously draws you away from the story to focus on the future Queen Elizabeth, as if to try and make you leave the cinema thinking fondly of a far superior film.

1. Ghost Town

A wretchedly nasty little film, an attempt at a comedic The Sixth Sense, sees the talents of Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear and Téa Leoni squandered in what just might be the most blatant victim of the writers’ strike. One moment of genuine sweetness is so heavy in saccharine after an hour of hell that it feels violating and manipulative. The open-ended finale may have seemed original and smart, but makes it feel as if those involved had no real idea of where they wanted this aimless mess to go.

]]> http://munlit.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/things-we-lost-in-the-fire/ Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:13:35 +0000 munlit http://munlit.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/things-we-lost-in-the-fire/

Academy Award winners Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro star in director Susanne Bier�s (the Oscar-nominated “After the Wedding”) powerful new drama “Things We Lost in the Fire” Audrey Burke (Berry) is reeling from the shock of the news that has just been delivered to her door by the local police: her warm and loving husband Brian (David Duchovny), the father of their two young children, has been killed in a random act of violence. Once anchored by the love and comforts of their 11-year marriage, Audrey is now adrift. Impulsively, she turns to Jerry Sunborne (Del Toro), a down-and-out addict who has been her husband�s close friend since childhood. Desperate to fill the painful void caused by her husband�s death, Audrey invites Jerry to move into the room adjacent to their garage in the hope that he can help her and her children cope with their sudden loss. Jerry is facing a daily battle to stay off drugs, but in his unexpected role as surrogate parent and friend to Audrey�s son and daughter he finds a core of inner resilience. As Jerry and Audrey navigate grief and denial, their fragile bonds are constantly tested. Working together, however, they discover the strength to move forward.

“Dad, what does ‘fluorescent’ mean?” asks a winsome young Dory of his doting dad, played by David Duchovny. Pondering a moment, dad answers, “It means, ‘lit from within.” “So Dad, am I fluorescent?’” “Yes, Dory, you are.” The touching, brief moment telegraphs the bond Duchovny’s character, Brian, has with his family, including wife Audrey (Halle Berry) and daughter Harper (Alexis Llewellyn), and the love that radiates through and around him. When tragedy strikes early in the film, Berry and the children must acknowledge, and somehow heal, the hole left in their lives. And in that human effort, so little explored in American films, Things We Lost in the Fire holds a luminous candle to the hope left in life–sometimes when all that seems to be left is hope. Directed by the talented Danish director Susanne Bier (Brothers), Fire is allowed to unfold almost in real time as grief washes over the family, and Berry gives one of her most memorable performances, captured mostly in tiny details that will hit the viewer in the soul. Her eyes, the carriage of her head, her slim shoulders appearing to buckle under the weight of her sorrow–Berry is well directed here and shows that her performance in Monster’s Ball was no fluke. As she begins to connect with Brian’s childhood friend Jerry (Benicio Del Toro), a new family web is woven–irregular, to be sure, but strong and comforting. Other affecting performances are given by the talented charater actor John Carroll Lynch, as Brian’s friend and neighbor, and by the heartbreaking Llewellyn, an actress of stunning range for a child so young. Things We Lost in the Fire holds a torch in the deepest darkness, and lets souls connect–a rare gift indeed. –A.T. Hurley

Things We Lost in the Fire is available at Amazon for $20.49. 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

• Michael Clayton (Widescreen Edition)
• No Country for Old Men
• American Gangster (2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition)
• Gone Baby Gone
• Into the Wild

Regi: Susanne Bier

Susanne Bier gör entré i Hollywood med en film som är ett genomfört sorgearbete. Historien rör sig luftigt mellan det konkreta och det sublima. Redan titeln rymmer detta spänningsfält. Själva branden
som filmens familj nyligen drabbats av innan historien börjar, blev inte så värst katastrofal. Den förstörde garaget där man visserligen förvarat minnen som gamla brev, fotoalbum och barnens avlagda kläder och leksaker, men det är sånt man faktiskt klarar sig utan. Det man däremot inte klarar sig utan är minnen lagrade inom sig. Minnena utgör det stoff som sorgearbetet hanterar så att de kan bilda en ny grund att leva på när den gamla förlorats. Om det handlar filmen.

Den verkligt fasansfulla förlusten familjen gör är att pappa Brian (spelad av David Duchovny, Arkiv X och nu aktuell Californication) dödas. I filmens öppningsscen samlas vännerna efter begravningen. Även Brians nerknarkade barndomsvän, Jerry, är där som en udda figur bland idel välanpassad övre medelklass. Mamma Audrey ( Halle Berry) hatar honom för att maken genom alla år varit så lojal mot sin vän trots dennes destruktiva beteende. “Det skulle ha varit du som dött, inte Brian”, säger hon till Jerry (Benicio Del Toro, Traffic och 21 Grams). Men det visar sig efter hand att Brian lämnat efter sig ett moraliskt och emotionellt arv till hustrun och de båda barnen, 6 och 10 år gamla, som gör att man fortsätter i hans anda. Jerry övertalas att flytta in i det nyrenoverade garaget varefter en komplicerad relationskavalkad vidtar. Alla inblandade är djupt ambivalenta och ingenting är enkelt och berättas sällsynt befriad från de vanliga klyschorna. När Audrey efter en lång följd av sömnlösa nätter slutligen inviterar Jerry att dela säng med henne är det inte för den förväntade sexualakten utan för att simulera en kär ställning som makarna brukat inta då de skulle sova. När äldsta dottern försvinner är det Jerry som minns att Brian tillsammans med dottern brukade ägna sig åt gemensamt skolk varje vår när den lokala biografen hade filmfestival med gamla svartvita filmfavoriter. Nu fullföljer flickan den traditionen och Jerry kan se till att lugna modern.

Det är uppfriskande att handlingen för en gångs skuld är förlagd till norra Kalifornien och Seattle. Där odlas en något annorlunda gemenskap än den gängse runt Los Angeles.

Det finns ingen happy end i ett sorgearbete bara en förnyad bas att leva utifrån. Det finns heller ingen bot för en heroinist. I filmens slutscen berättar Jerry en dröm han ofta har som är en lovprisning till heroinet. Han vet att han måste erkänna sitt beroende för att kunna välja att leva drogfritt. Det hör till filmens förtjänster att vi slipper det.

Nu återstår att se om Susanne Bier får en andra chans i Hollywood. Things We Lost in the Fire blev inte som Lasse Hallströms debutfilm over there, Gilbert Grape med Johnny Depp, en braksuccé i USA. Kanske kan något independentbolag ta sig an henne. Hon passar nog bättre i de sammanhangen.

You’ve made us wait long enough!!!

(Photo: Fray; Credit: ibabuzz.com)

Our first listen to the new single, “You Found Me”, can be heard first next Thursday, NOVEMBER 20th. It will air during a commercial break of ABCs Grey’s Anatomy in a promo for the upcoming season of Lost.  Afterwards, if you go to abc.com, you will be able to get a first listen of the song in its’ entirety and download it online.

The song won’t hit radio waves until Friday, the 21st.

Check out more info at billboard.biz:

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/genre/e3i20170c00f5099aaca20347255a77239c

Side note: The Fray got their first big buzz with the song ”How To Save A Life” which aired as a song on Grey’s Anatomy. This was the starting point to their current success in the music world. Songs like “Look After You” and “Over My Head” have been used in various tv shows/films [Things We Lost in The Fire].

Leave you off with one of the more unknown Fray songs from their first album, How To Save a Life (Sony) “Vienna”

Expecting depressing music and lyrics. However, I still LOVE.

Quando pensi di avere le basi, quando pensi che la vita sia perfetta, l’aiuto ti viene da persone inaspettate, proprio da quelle che le basi le hanno buttate via molto tempo prima.

]]> http://pinkyandthebrains.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/sp%c3%b8rgsmal-til-forel%c3%a6sning-torsdag-d-25-september-2008/ Sun, 28 Sep 2008 20:54:07 +0000 pinkyandthebrains http://pinkyandthebrains.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/sp%c3%b8rgsmal-til-forel%c3%a6sning-torsdag-d-25-september-2008/

Spørgsmål: Hvorfor er det vigtigt at stille de dumme spørgsmål?

Svar: Det er ikke kun vigtigt at stille de dumme spørgsmål når vi snakker designprocessen generelt, men dette bliver yderligere kritisk når man bevæger sig mod innovation. At forholde sig kritisk eller spørgende til en given situation er vigtigt for at forstå forudsætningerne i et problem.

Ud over dette, hvis grebet seriøst an, kan udfordre hele forståelsen af den eksisterende situation. En designers fundamentale reaktion til en klient som vil have et problem løst, er at spørge hvorfor.
På den måde udfordre designeren gamle ideer som er groet fast med tiden, og derved åbner op for nye tilgange for tankeprocessen, til at tackle det givende problem.
(thoughtful interaction design.. Page 26 Chapter 2, 2.2.3 Questioning)

Ovenover er så mit billede, lavet af de farver jeg havde i mit arsenal, som ligger herunder.

- Andreas Wolff

År: 2007
Genre: Drama
Skådisar: Halle Berry, Benicio Del Toro, David Duchovny

Handling: Berry spelar en nybliven änka som förlorat sin man Brian (Duchovny) efter att han försökt avstyra en man som misshandlar sin hustru vid en affär. Paret har två barn tillsammans och vi får sen följa Brians bästa vän Jerry (Del Toro) när Burke bjuder in honom att bo hos dom. Jerry försöker sen anpassa sig till familjen och försöker bli kvitt sitt heroinmissbruk.

Kommentar: Mycket underbar och gripande film som rekommenderas starkt. Bra skådespel och upplägg av filmen. Se den, du blir inte besviken!

Betyg:

Revolutionary Update: IFC will distribute the film, not Magnolia…more about that here.

Finally! Magnolia Pictures will distribute the Steven Soderbergh (the Ocean’s trilogy) biopic Che in the US. Yes, you read that right, it will apparently be released as one film in the States instead of the two-parter The Argentine and Guerilla other countries are having (or are they?).

The movie(s) premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival to very enthusiastic response and went on to win the Best Actor prize for star Benicio Del Toro (Things We Lost In The Fire), which is why it’s so surprising it couldn’t find a distributor until now.

Magnolia hasn’t announced a date yet, but you can expect the film(s) to be released sometime in December in America. If you live in Spain however, you can check it (them?) out right now.

Source

Mit navn er Andreas Wolff, 23 år gammel ung mand oprindelig fra en lille sommerby i nordsjælland ved navn Hornbæk – er netop flyttet til Århus (har boet her i knap 1 måned nu).

I 2006 fik jeg min studentereksame (HF), af valgfag de 2 år havde jeg musik & multiemedier. Efter gymnasietiden har jeg haft 2 sabat år, hvor jeg har arbejdet rejst, arbejdet rejst – senest kommet hjem fra 4 måneder sprogrejse i New Zealand & Thailand, som var et mix af rejse/oplevelse/kultur & faglig undervisning, alt i alt en rigtig fed måde at rejse på.

Jeg blev faktisk optaget på kvote 2 sidste år årgang 07 på digital design, men jeg fik brevet om min optagelse d. 19 august, jeg tog chancen men kunne ikke nå at finde en bolig i tide til studiestart. Har været inaktiv studerende hele året så, og fik i april dispensation angående 1. årsprøven, og kunne derved starte på ny her d. 1/9-08, og denne gang få en bolig også

Jeg kan faktisk ikke sige hundrede procent hvorfor jeg lige har valgt Digital Design, ud over jeg syntes det lød spændende dengang jeg læste om det tilbage i 07 omkring juni måned, men har altid haft interesse for den digitale verden, om det var i henblik på design, spil, eller bare ny teknologi der kom frem på markedet – Jeg har en lille drøm om at designe spil, eller influencere spil verdenen måske engang langt nede ad linien, og dette nok var min primære motivator for at søge ind på Digital Design…

Når det er sagt skal det siges allerede den første uge af forelæsning og det stof vi har gennemgået har åbnet mine øjne op for en masse andre aspekter, hvilke jeg finder virkelig spændende, glæder mig meget til at gå dybere ind i stoffet, hvem ved hvad jeg ender op og lege med efter de 5 år.

Kan ikke umiddelbart komme i tanke om andet at skrive lige nu, så jeg vil stoppe her.

Mvh Andreas Wolff

Superstar music master Danny Elfman (Hellboy II) has just been announced as the composer for Universal’s forthcoming remake of The Wolf Man. Elfman, who’s best known for his frequent collaborations with director Tim Burton as well as his theme for The Simpsons, is a good choice in my opinion, in addition to being a very obvious one (he did score Sleepy Hollow after all). I for one am looking forward to what musical wonders Mr Elfman will come up with.

The Wolf Man, a remake of the 1941 classic, will premiere on April 3rd in the US, UK and Denmark, with the rest of the world following shortly. Footage from the film was shown at this year’s Comic-Con, to very enthusiastic response. The premise of the film, which was written by Andrew Kevin Walker  (hey, Sleepy Hollow!) and David Self (Road To Perdition), goes like this, according to Wikipedia:

Set in the late 1880s, the film keeps the plotline of the original, with Lawrence Talbot meeting his father following the death of his brother. The film details events during Lawrence’s past that led to his estrangement from his father (which includes Gwen), and the setting is expanded from Blackmore (now identified as the village from the original) to London.^[3] The official synopsis states Talbot was traumatized by his mother’s death as a child, while Gwen Conliffe is his brother’s fiancée. Following his brother’s disappearance, Talbot hunts a murderer, which turns out to be a werewolf, and the curse is passed on.

The film was originally to be directed by the über-talented Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo), but he left very early on due to budget disagreements, with the pretty competent Joe Johnston (Hidalgo) taking over as helmsman. Benicio Del Toro (Things We Lost In The Fire) plays the lead character and is joined Anthony Hopkins (Beowulf), Hugo Weaving (V For Vendetta) and Emily Blunt (Charlie Wilson’s War).

The Wolf Man will be Universal’s third attempt at resurrecting their old horror franchises, following the success of The Mummy and the failure of Van Helsing (a seriously underrated movie by the way). It seems as though The Wolf Man, which features makeup from maestro Rick Baker (Norbit), will be a decidedly more serious-minded affair than those movies, which turned away some moviegoers with their more light, fun approach to the source material.

Source

I felt like I had seen it all on Albion. Dead bodies: check. Crack smoking: check. Human dumps: check. Earlier today I saw an actual crack deal going on and that didn’t even shock me. Three men hovering behind a tree, paranoid, checking over their shoulders every two seconds, handing over money and receiving a baggie of, presumably, crack. Don’t worry, sirs, I will not be reporting you to the police. The crack overload of this little alley has rendered me absolutely indifferent to illicit drugs. Tonight, however, I saw a man wildly scratching a lotto ticket in front of my door, and that made an impression on me. It’s never “that poor man – he’s addicted to crack;” it’s “that poor man, he thinks he’ll win the lottery.” Oh homeless Albion.

Item #2. I feel like the phrase “I love him/her to death” is ALWAYS followed by a but. I love him to death but he’s a complete assclown. I love her to death but she can be such a wedgie in my happy underpant. If you catch yourself saying “I love __ to death” remember that you’re about to state a reason why you don’t love that person. Do you really love __ to death? Maybe just say “I don’t like this person because xyz. Otherwise, he’s ok.”

Finally, like I really can’t stand hanging out with douchebags. And I really feel that I have good criteria for what constitutes a douchebag so I don’t think I’m being unreasonable. When someone says “Ethiopia – wait. Is that a country in Africa? Where, like, people don’t eat, or something?” Yeah. A nation of voluntary anorexics, you fucking donkey. That constitutes a douchebag. I’ve been around an ungodly amount of douchebags in the past 48 hours. No, I haven’t been in North Beach.

Douchebags, as a people, sometimes feel they can overcome douchebaggery by adopting characteristics of non-douchebags. Well-travelled people, for example. Just because a douchebag has visited several countries does not qualify him for non-douchebag status. “I remember when I was travelling through the Qinghai province of China, I wondered to myself whether the First World would ever…” No, douchebag. I still think you suck. I don’t care if you summered in fucking Yemen, hearding goats with impoverished villagers. If you’re a screaming drunk, wearing a visor and your favorite song is “Time of Your Life,” you’re still a douchebag. Namedrop any country you want, I stand firmly by my judgement.

On the same note, I feel that several arenas adopt the same idea. That maybe if you do the same thing someone else has and succeeded, you will succeed. Movies do this. Recently I’ve been on a Netflix streak of shit movies.

Case #1: Margot at the Wedding. Terrible movie for many reasons. But I’d like to focus on a couple. Margot at the Wedding attempts desperately to portray awkward family relationships, dry-humored assholes and the ironic underlying misery of all the characters. Wes Anderson has succeeded in doing this and making mind-blowing good movies. Nicole Kidman and Jack Black in MATW? Not so much. What is with falling-in-the-pool scenes? Why do directors think dramatic plunge in water = good movie. This is simply not true. And let’s just come out and say that Will Ferrell did it best in Old School because he was satirizing the ridiculous overuse of the aquatic scene, The Sound of Silence was playing, and he made out with a mullet-sporting Sean-William Scott. And scene.

Case #2: Things We Lost in the Fire. Sounds like a good movie title, right? Maybe I thought so because it reminds me of The Things They Carried, which is a great book. It sounded like it was going to be some profound shit. It was just shit. Spousal death and/or tragic accidents don’t automatically constitute a good movie. That’s number one. Number two – story line. Happy couple with kids, David Duchovny dad dies, single Halle Berry mom invites dad’s heroin-addict childhood friend to live in the house. Riiiiight… We’ll just hope little Johnny doesn’t walk in on Benicio del Torro sweating and puking off his withdrawals. And you’re trying to tell me Duchovny was out of the alien-chasing business in the first pleace? I don’t buy it.

I don’t buy any of it.

Adorei este filme!

Uma história bonita… Benicio Del Toro, Halle Berry, em grandes papéis. A cada filme que vou vendo do Del Toro, fico a gostar cada vez mais deste actor.. começou com o 21 Gramas.

A vida de Audrey Burke (Berry) é despedaçada pela inesperada morte do seu marido. Em sofrimento, ela vira-se para o melhor amigo deste, Jerry Sunborne (Del Toro), um antigo advogado apanhado numa espiral de droga e azar. Juntos, eles esforçam-se por colocar as suas vidas em ordem.

Vale a pena ver.

Aqui fica o trailer:

Fontes:

IMDB

Cinema PTGate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybb8lsvR9do

Pick of the Week

I’m Not There – A polarising, hugely imaginative biopic of Bob Dylan in which the great man is played at various stages by six separate actors, including a young African American kid and Cate Blanchett. The latter gives an amazing performance and the whole film is brimming with wit and overflowing with imagination.

Also out

Batman Cartoons – The Dark Knight Chronicles and Gotham Knight, both decent adaptations of the Batman comics and worth a watch in the build up to The Dark Knight.
Step Up 2 The Streets – More dancing and other stuff from the Disney stable. Haven’t seen it and likely won’t.
The Spiderwick Chronicles – Really effective little kids horror movie that probably won’t do anything for adults but will provide a good evening’s entertainment for the little ones.
Love in the Time of Cholera – Haven’t seen but a pretty much universally disliked adaptation of Marquez’s classic.
Margot at the Wedding – Mean-spirited and misguided difficult third film from Noah Baumbach.
You, The Living – Adored Swedish black comedy. I will be seeing soon based on the pitch of Bergman meets Monty Python
The Cottage – Terrible follow-up to London to Brighton from Paul Andrew Williams which is a horror comedy and isn’t scary and isn’t funny.
Wrong Move/The American Friend/Kings of the Road – Three more from Wim Wenders. You can read my reviews of the first two here and here. The third incidentally is a freaking masterpiece.
Things We Lost in the Fire – Big time downer but truly a great performance from Benicio del Toro.