tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23793530381896412082024-03-21T22:38:29.649-04:00CinephiliaqueMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.comBlogger1031125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-73614199972535219722023-08-01T20:08:00.003-04:002023-08-01T20:08:33.162-04:00Barbie<p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8tbKI1Rh_o7BjECpvBERet3i4X1PWrxCQZYhtrGAgbyPjIiDfiJD2wlopy0DkKj8EMc0ZktORaDpaf5sQNEUdT8kObzp_zhkjzQoOnUcy0dg9BE9X70kyuzr4qyRuPpdiPEl2gMeVYItFGLT75KQ_be0YdaJjzuYbMsvznStWnqoewHvuWg6znonNeFza/s3000/Barbie_Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8tbKI1Rh_o7BjECpvBERet3i4X1PWrxCQZYhtrGAgbyPjIiDfiJD2wlopy0DkKj8EMc0ZktORaDpaf5sQNEUdT8kObzp_zhkjzQoOnUcy0dg9BE9X70kyuzr4qyRuPpdiPEl2gMeVYItFGLT75KQ_be0YdaJjzuYbMsvznStWnqoewHvuWg6znonNeFza/s320/Barbie_Poster.jpg" width="213" /></a></b></div><b><br /><i>Barbie</i></b> <b>(</b><b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial, "sans-serif";">Greta Gerwig, 2023)</span></b><p></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial, "sans-serif";"><b>(3)</b> Famous Barbie doll gets on a journey to find more than the meaning of her space in little girls' lives. A comedy that has a more depth and flavor than the saccharine and saturated pink that comes with its packaging. Outstanding performances from <b>Margot Robbie</b> and <b>Ryan Gosling</b>.</span></div>MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-41902366029115645702017-11-02T11:07:00.002-04:002023-08-01T20:17:20.850-04:00Psycho (1960)<div class="MsoNormal">
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<i>A Phoenix secretary
embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run, and checks into
a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Psycho</i> is probably
the film that represents <b>Alfred
Hitchcock</b> the most in popular culture. With the proto-slasher killer and
the now legendary shower scene where <b>Janet
Leigh</b> gets butchered naked. <i>Psycho</i>
is now encrusted in the common minds as <b>Hitchcock</b>’s
masterpiece and his trademark of Horror.
Well that is part right and part wrong. First, <b>Hitchcock</b> was not a dedicated horror filmmaker has much as a
storyteller that mastered thrills and suspense. Is <i>Psycho</i> his masterpiece? We can count at least five films as his
masterpieces; <i>Rear Window</i>, <i>North By Northwest</i>, <i>Vertigo</i>, <i>Psycho</i>, and <i>The Birds</i>. However, is Psycho his
ultimate masterpiece? Some might say yes to that answer but recently, 2012, <i>Vertigo</i> was recognized as the greatest
film of all time by the <i>Sight and Sound</i>
poll held each decade since 1952. However, is you ask me, and I believe that if
you are reading those lines you are asking me, <i>Psycho</i> might be the most personal masterpiece <b>Hitchcock</b> ever directed. With the floating sexuality from the
beginning of the traveling in the hotel bedroom where Marion Crane (<b>Janet Leigh</b>) and Sam are having an
affair to the shower scene, sex is present. Then you have the thrill, the build-up
to the first murder, the fear of the policeman that suspects Marion of getting
away in a hurry and follows her to the point where seh trades car, <b>Hitchcock</b> was affraid of cops since a
childhood memory that his father asked the police to jail him for a moment so
he would behave. There are themes of <b>Hitchcock</b>’s
obsessions that are recurring but also completely succesful in their execution.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Let’s now discuss the thing that is almost synonymous with <i>Psycho</i>, the shower scene. In his
discussions with <b>François Truffaut</b>, <b>Hitchcock</b> admitted that it was the only
reason he wanted to do the film. I doubt that a bit since the film is so
perfect in every one of its elements that, yes the scene is outstanding and his
use of montage, jump cuts, traveling into <b>Leigh</b>’s
eye to show us she looked at the money before life gets out of her, and the
shot of the knife entering the flesh that was shot in reverse so that the knife
never penetrates the wet skin, but still the build up leading to that scene is
a lesson in cinema. That scene took many days to shot and the use of many
angles makes it geometric and puts us into the shower side by side with Marion.
As if we were taking the shower with her and witnessing the scene getting
soaked. When the killer gets in and attacks then kill Marion, the story shifts
from the point of view of Marion to Norman Bates (<b>Anthony Perkins</b>) that comes and washes meticulously the crime
scene. This long afterwards of cleaning and getting rid of the body and the car
is also as interesting as the assassination scene itself. When he gazes the car
slowly sinking into the swamp, the montage from the car to his face has a comic
mesure that makes us his acolytes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Janet Leigh<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anthony Perkins<o:p></o:p></div>
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Birds<o:p></o:p></div>
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Horror<o:p></o:p></div>
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Cinematography<o:p></o:p></div>
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Saul Bass <o:p></o:p></div>
MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-75512372651593894112017-04-25T12:00:00.000-04:002017-04-25T12:00:46.894-04:00Frank Shirley in Christmas Vacation - 2017 Great Villain Blogathon <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b> </b><b>Frank Shirley in
Christmas Vacation</b></div>
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<i>Editor’s note :
this piece is a part of the legendary </i><a href="https://hqofk.wordpress.com/2017/02/24/the-great-villain-blogathon-2017/" target="_blank">Great Villains Blogathon (2017Edition)</a><i> and an informal return from my
semi-retirement as a film critic. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<a name='more'></a>As an avid fan of Christmas in general, my family always
watches <i>Christmas Vacation</i> on
Christmas Eve’s eve. We love the gentle comedy and everything Christmas<i>ish</i> about it. One might think I’m a bit
cuckoo to be thinking about Christmas in April, well I think about it every
damn day of the year and I am thirty three years old. <o:p></o:p><br />
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Even if <b>Jean Renoir</b>’s
<i>La règle du jeu</i> is one of my favorite
film of all time with <i>Taxi Driver</i> and
<i>The Shining</i>, I always thought that <i>Christmas Vacation</i> is a movie that works
on multiple levels. <o:p></o:p></div>
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First, it is a pop culture phenomenon and it celebrates our
nostalgia of our childhood memories of the holiday. It now connects with me in
another manner since I am a father of a three year old; I idealize Clark
Griswold as the father who wants everything to be perfect but fails miserably while
being loved by his family despite his obsession of perfect reconstitution
of memories. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the movie, the villain Frank Shirley has a small part
played by <b>Brian Doyle-Murray</b>, yes
the brother of the well known <b>Bill
Murray</b>, but this part represents a lot of things for the common man that
Clark (<b>Chevy Chase</b>) portrays. In the
collective mind, the representation of a boss is this grumpy cold blooded with
a gigantic office and opulent house.<o:p></o:p></div>
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He doesn’t know the names of his employees and looks like a
workaholic in his gold linen filled office. (Does it ring a bell?) He has this
attitude of treating his employees like numbers and not taking a human approach
in his relationships with his workers. If it’s been a while you’ve been working
you probably have encountered this kind of boss that even when given a gift is
not giving a turd about being polite and thankful for the good work. <o:p></o:p></div>
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One might say it is a stereotypical boss from a 1980s comedy
but it reflects a preconception that the boss represents in the society. His
decision, that makes Clark go mad, is a capitalist driven one that consisted of
cutting the Christmas bonuses. Corporations have been trying to cut everywhere
and cuts in budgets often more than not is suffered by the ‘’small people’’ as
Shirley calls them. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As of today, the mold of the boss as a villain is more or
less an antiquity. Now they plan happy hours, get to know their people, and see
their employees more like coworkers, friends, and even family. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As for the representation of the boss from the collective
mind that Frank Shirley represents I wanted to expose this villain from a
holiday classic. <o:p></o:p></div>
MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-53906025201781651822017-03-01T11:00:00.000-05:002017-03-01T11:00:16.704-05:00Awards Season They Say...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My contribution to the blogosphere has been discreet lately
and appart from posting a movie review here and there I haven’t participated in
Blogathons or other events. So it was quite a surprise to be nominated for an
award.<o:p></o:p></div>
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With a bit of surprise and recognition from <b>Barry</b> of <a href="http://cinematiccatharsis.blogspot.com/">Cinematic Catharsis</a>, I am
proudly accepting this award and give it a spin.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As for the nominees, you do whatever you want with this and
it is just a way to tell you all that I appreciate your good work and you
deserve every drop of the winner’s champagne. However, if you choose to accept,
there are some rules that are part and parcel to the nomination:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Post the award on your blog.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Thank the person who nominated you.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Answer the 11 questions they sent.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Pick another 11 bloggers and let them know they are
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My responses to <b>Cinematic
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<b><o:p> 1.</o:p> <span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Name a favorite overlooked film that you can’t stop
yakking about (even though other people probably wish you would).</span></b></div>
<div>
<b style="text-indent: -18pt;">Ingmar
Bergman</b><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">’s </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">The Magician</i><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">. It was
done in the director’s most prolific era (</span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">Wild
Strawberries</i><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">, </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">The Seventh Seal</i><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">, </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">The Virgin Spring</i><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">) but doesn’t get the
recognition it deserves as one of the master’s masterpieces. At least it got
the Criterion treatment!</span><br /><a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/release_boxshots/2980-48a5145b92fdf872f7d997191a9e970d/537_BD_box_348x490_original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/release_boxshots/2980-48a5145b92fdf872f7d997191a9e970d/537_BD_box_348x490_original.jpg" width="141" /></a><br /><br /><b>2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -18pt;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">What book would you like to see adapted into a movie?</span></b><br /><br /><i>The
Secret History</i> by <b>Donna Tartt</b>. I
am currently reading it and it reminds me of <i>The Name of the Rose</i>. Slow paced but so well written it would be a
great adaptation and I think maybe <b>David
Fincher</b> could do impressive work with this novel.<br /><br /><b>3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -18pt;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Why do you write about movies?</span></b><br /><br />Blogging is more or less a mandatory exercise
I force myself to achieve that helps me keep a road map of the films I’ve
watched and relieves a creative side of my personality that my day job is not
doing.<br /><br /><b>4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -18pt;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">What’s one of your true passions outside of films or
blogging?</span></b><br /><br />Since the mid 1990’s I’ve been snowboarding
and skateboarding and more recently surfing. So I would call it <i>standing sideways</i> as a passion for board
sports and getting my mind on one thing that helps me to forget about the
monotony of adulthood and all the responsibilities for a couple of hours at a
time. When carving a huge line in snow I have to be concentrated only on
pushing on my edges correctly and perfecting my technique. Then, I can forget
about my 200 things that are on my home improvement list.<br /><br /><b>5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -18pt;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Going to the movie theatre: Is it a necessary component
for enjoying films, or just a big hassle?</span></b><br /><br />It is not necessary but it is the best way to
watch a film if you ask me. However, we seem to never have the time to plan for
a night at the movies anymore. But I will bring my daughter soon to share the
passion with her. Since she gets hypnotized with <i>Paw Patrol</i> and <i>Peppa Pig</i>
I bet she would love to go watch an animation flick on the big screen.<br /><br /><b>6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -18pt;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">What’s one of your fondest childhood memories of going
to the movies?</span></b><br /><br />To be honest, my family was not really
wealthy and we would not be going to the movies that much. However, my parents
would rent VHS on Saturday nights and we would be watching one or two movies in
the evening. I remember being in our pyjamas and watching family movies like <i>Beethoven</i> and <b>Tom Hanks</b> comedies like <i>The
Money Pit</i> and <i>Big</i>.<br /><br /><b>7.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -18pt;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">If you suddenly became unstuck in time like Billy
Pilgrim, what era would you want to live in?</span></b><br /><br />Had to do a little search to remind myself
who was Billy Pilgrim. Although, big fan of <b>Kurt Vonnegut</b> here. I would be split between the late 1980’s when
snowboard was becoming what it is today and everything was simpler that time.
Also a fan of 1980’s Horror and cult films of that time.<br />As a professional Historian there is not really a time I would be that willing
to go back to because it seems to never have any perfect time to live in but I
would explore Ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome as a curiosity. Medieval times
seem too difficult and dark. The roaring twenties in New York City would be
great too with Jazz and all those post Great War excesses.<br /><br /><b>8.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -18pt;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Where do you stand on the physical media vs. streaming
debate?</span></b><br /><br />For the accessibility and the spreading of
the media I think that streaming is ideal but as a professionnal archivist I
still have a soft spot for the physical media and a huge library of DVDs and
Blu-Ray films at home.<br /><br /><b>9.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -18pt;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">What’s your least favorite film genre?</span></b><br /><br />Probably Fantasy and Superhero films because
the pattern is often repeated <i>ad nauseam</i>
and I think that there is not enough substance other than special effects.<br /><br /><b>10.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Name
a favorite film that’s not in the Criterion Collection, but should be.</span></b><br /><i> </i><br /><i>The
Shining, </i>since there are already some of <b>Kubrick</b>’s films in the Collection they should all be there and this
is my personal favorite.<br /><br /><b>11.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Name
an acclaimed film that you’re ashamed to admit you haven’t seen.</span></b><br /><b> </b><br /><b>Zhang
Yimou</b>’s <i>Raise The Red Lantern</i>
might top that long list of acclaimed films I still need to watch.<br /><o:p></o:p><br />
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Here are my nominees for the Sunshine Blogger Award:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Virginie Pronovost, <a href="https://thewonderfulworldofcinema.wordpress.com/">The Wonderful World of Cinema</a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Groggy Dundee, <a href="http://nothingiswrittenfilm.blogspot.com/">Nothing Is Written : A
Film Blog</a><br />
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<b>Kevin Laforest, <a href="http://extrabeurre.com/">Extra
Beurre</a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Chris, <a href="http://moviesandsongs365.blogspot.com/">Movies
and Songs 365</a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Philip Concannon, <a href="http://www.philonfilm.net/">Phil on
Film</a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>John LaRue, <a href="https://tdylf.com/">The Droid You’re
Looking For</a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Phyl, <a href="http://phyllislovesclassicmovies.blogspot.ca/">Phyllis
Loves Classic Movies</a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Barry, <a href="http://cinematiccatharsis.blogspot.com/">Cinematic
Catharsis</a> (because it’s my turn and I can do whatever I want with it)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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And my questions for you, dear bloggers:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Name three films you would bring with you on a desert island.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Name the current or classic movie stars you would 1. marry, 2.
kill, and 3. spend a night with?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Name a film you hated the first time you watched it and that
you learned to love with time or after rewatching it?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Are you a Sports fan? If yes, what sport and which team is <u>your</u>
team?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Do you make an event of watching the Oscars or you find it
dull? If you do something special what is it and who is with you?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Could there be too many Blogathons?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Do you have blogging goals? <o:p></o:p></div>
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They announced an adaptation of your biography, which
director should direct it and who should portray yourself?<o:p></o:p></div>
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What is your opinion on biopics?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Are you able to dissociate an artist and his personal life?
(read here : <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanski#Legal_history">the charges
on Roman Polanski for example</a>)<o:p></o:p></div>
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What is the blog post you are the most proud of?<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-20317770865216788502017-02-23T08:00:00.000-05:002017-02-23T08:00:02.289-05:00The Big Short<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e3/The_Big_Short_teaser_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e3/The_Big_Short_teaser_poster.jpg" width="205" /></a></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The Big Short</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">
(Adam McKay, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Four denizens in the world of
high-finance predict the credit and housing bubble collapse of the mid-2000s,
and decide to take on the big banks for their greed and lack of foresight.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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As Hollywood
is telling financing success (see <i>The
Wolf Of Wall Street</i>) and crisis (<i>The
Big Short</i>), we are propulsed in a world that is as unclear who are the good
guys and who are the bad guys. A bit like we you are watching a gangster flick
and the cops are as full of shit as the bad guys. In <b>Adam McKay</b>’s <i>The Big Short</i>,
almost every person wants his piece of the pie and everyone is at some time a
bad guy. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Staring <b>Christian Bale</b>, <b>Ryan Gosling</b>, <b>Steve Carell</b>,
<b>Brad Pitt</b>, <b>Marisa Tomei</b>, <b>Melissa Leo</b>,
and other supporting actors giving solid performances as well. With this solid
cast and <b>Adam McKay</b>’s dynamic
directing, <i>The Big Short</i> is a film
about a complex subject that is well explained with a penchant for breaking the
fourth wall and addressing to the camera the characters and real life persons
like <b>Margot Robbie</b> or <b>Antoine Bourdin</b>. The directing is also
widely inspired by the documentary observation of a retelling of events that is
often dramatized. This is mostly a hit but sometimes it breaks the pace and a
more subtle approach could have make a stronger film in its whole. However, The
Big Short has a voice and coming from the same director of <i>The Other Guys, Anchroman, </i> and <i>Stepbrothers</i>
I<i> </i>was not expecting to enjoy this
that much.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">To be honest,
even after finishing the film and the explanations it provides, I am not sure I
fully understood all the credit collapse that is the subject of the film. The
problem with a film that is not simple like this is that it should be clear to
the viewer with no basic in finance to fully understand its <i>propos</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Well, even
with this minor flaw <i>The Big Short</i> is
a bright example of the time it came out, a cynicism that rots everyone’s
confidence in economy and laws. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-50193956349134181642017-02-01T08:00:00.000-05:002023-08-01T20:22:05.634-04:00Spotlight<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Spotlight_(film)_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Spotlight_(film)_poster.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Spotlight </span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">(Tom
McCarthy, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The true story of how the Boston Globe
uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the
local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a name='more'></a>Winner of the
Best Picture Oscar and the Best Original Screenplay Oscar in 2016, <b>Tom McCarthy</b>’s <i>Spotlight</i> is a contemporary story hugely reminiscent of <b>Alan Pakula</b>’s <i>All The President’s Men</i> that set the standard for meticulous
historical journalist stories. Starring <b>Mark
Ruffalo</b>, <b>Rachel McAdams</b>, <b>Michael Keaton</b>, <b>Liev Schreiber</b>, <b>John
Slattery</b>, and <b>Stanley Tucci</b> we
follow the Spotlight team that consists of a team of four journalists of <i>The Boston Globe</i> (Ruffalo, Keaton,
McAdams, Slattery) that investigated a massive scandal of the Catholic Church
that protected an entire system of pedophiles that even included a cover by the
establishment of Boston’s Catholic majority.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The story as
it is, is disgusting and the plot stays away from sensationalist facts, graphic
depictions, or forced victimization. All the storytelling is on the
investigation and how those journalists had to fight to get truth and had to
shake things up for their story to get published. However, none of this could
have been if it was not for their editor Marty Baron (Schreiber) and his
tenacity to get to where he wanted to be. In fact, the 128 minutes of the film
well paced and even if the action is in the dialogues and the information
passed on the screen, the story never stops being interesting or even to slow
down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The <i>mise-en-scène</i> is sober and there are
many subtle decisions in the few elements included in the frames and I think
that every frame was meticulously composed with all the nuances of beiges, greys,
and browns. There is a lot a of information that is shared with only what the
characters are looking at and that are appearing as the camera zooms out or in.
Those smart choices when added to a camera that is often in movement with its
characters moving and talking is a nice effect to show us how the investigation
advances. Writer/director <b>Tom McCarthy</b>
did an excellent job in his storytelling and drove his directorial cart with
righteous choices.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As
aforementioned, <i>Spotlight</i> reminds at
first sight to <i>All the President’s Men</i>
that influenced many filmmakers like <b>David
Fincher</b> for his <i>Zodiac</i>, <i>The Social Network</i>, and most of his
films. But Fincher took the influence and transposed it in his stories. Is <i>Spotlight</i> strong enough to stand on its
own and not be a follower or a lookalike to Pakula’s masterpiece? Probably, but
its film has a very strong 1970’s vibe to it and I could easily understand
because I would certainly be paying homage to the great films of the 1970’s if
I was making films or television myself. However, as much as <i>Spotlight</i> has qualities and as much as I
liked it it is not <i>The Social Network</i>
and definitely not <i>All the President’s
Men</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-78479224248327045702016-11-25T14:30:00.000-05:002016-11-25T14:31:21.696-05:00The Trip<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Editor’s note : </span></i></b><i><span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">a big thank you to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>Olive Films</b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>for the promotional copy of this
Blu-Ray release of this cult classic.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a href="http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/posters/tt0062395.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/posters/tt0062395.jpg" height="320" width="226" /></a></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Trip</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
(Roger Corman, 1967)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Paul Groves (<b>Peter Fonda</b>), a television commercial director, is in the midst of
a personality crisis. His wife Sally (<b>Susan
Strasberg</b>) has left him and he seeks the help of his friend John (Bruce
Dern), a self-styled guru who's an advocate of LSD. Paul asks John to be the
guide on his first "trip".<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Often cited
as the worst film of all time, <i>The Trip</i>
is a gem that reflects the spirit of its time. This experiment, cause filming
those kaleidoscope drug trips permitted to lead to <b>Dennis Hopper</b>’s <i>Easy Rider</i>
also starring <b>Peter Fonda</b> and <b>Jack Nicholson</b> who wrote <i>The Trip</i>. Fonda’s performance is
interesting and well nuanced in this extravagant film that has a look of the
1960’s of <b>Michelangelo Antonioni</b>’s <i>Blowup</i> with the depiction of free
sexuality and rock music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Second
paragraph and no word on the director? Michaël sure isn’t feeling well you say.
Well, <b>Roger Corman</b>, the mentor of
the New Hollywood, or one of the most important figures of this second Golden
Age of Hollywood. His imput was what put Nicholson, Fonda, Hopper, Coppola,
Cameron, and even <b>Martin Scorsese</b> on
the map with <i>Boxcar Bertha</i>. Corman is
an important figure of the Cinema and not just his underground with his
Independent B-Movies, but he was a producer and a risk taker that made him a
mentor and an advocate of young and raw talents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
screenplay of <i>The Trip</i> is not that
rich and it is a drug infused with some sex scenes and references to the œuvre of
Tolkien. But, Corman used <b>Jack Nicholson</b>’s
script and the latter would have a great career. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The musical
aspect of <i>The Trip</i> might be the most
interesting with the way the performers are shot and how it sounds really good.
Sure it’s a trippy film and there is nothing really going on. The quest of Paul
never really is important or riveting and the blurs of colors and funny montage
might get you dizzy more than high on the film. Nonetheless, the er ais well
represented here and the search for Paul inner him announced the future of the
hippie generation that emancipate the Western World.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-27465625476126892072016-11-23T12:00:00.000-05:002023-08-01T20:20:57.352-04:00It's a Wonderful Life<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHBDGqLjNX7g9UxBkwFnu6foBM7c4bE38MG3mitZbLwtmHzkC-Zp6Is5hlROMzXrWEaACQ3jmLuIFSHrkXIA7lLs2yIaWSwS2ZJ7i3BhTVgUgwDQwpmZLRX_ZvgRqSwLtfVR4F9HhKrsQq/s1600/lt's+a+Wonderful+Life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHBDGqLjNX7g9UxBkwFnu6foBM7c4bE38MG3mitZbLwtmHzkC-Zp6Is5hlROMzXrWEaACQ3jmLuIFSHrkXIA7lLs2yIaWSwS2ZJ7i3BhTVgUgwDQwpmZLRX_ZvgRqSwLtfVR4F9HhKrsQq/s1600/lt's+a+Wonderful+Life.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">It’s a Wonderful Life</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"> (Frank Capra, 1946)</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "sans-serif";">An angel helps a compassionate but
despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would have been like
if he never existed.</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">The great American classic of Christmas movies that is
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It’s a Wonderful Life</i> is like the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Casablanca</i> of holiday films. Almost everyone
has seen it and some adore it while others, let’s call them the naysayers, call
it overrated. Loosely based on <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Charles
Dickens</b> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Christmas Carol</i>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Frank Capra</b>’s film has passed through
the ages like a classic novel that lustre the nostalgia of the old-fashioned
Christmas. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">George Bailey (<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">James
Stewart</b>) is a young businessman and family man. He represents the guy next
door or the good traditional American man. One day, his enterprises fails and
he loses a big chunk of money. Seeing no other option other than the most fatal
one, he is saved by an angel that will make him take a step back and see what
would happened if he wasn’t even born. This will give him back the will he
needed to continue his good life.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">The films of Frank Capra all have a saccharine moral
and an ending that unifies the audience. Facing a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Howard Hawks</b>, Capra’s vision is more populist and pedestrian. Hawks
was a director who could bring a genre picture and elevate it with his themes
and unique writing. On the other hand Capra was an inspired filmmaker and he
was a fine director who liked to release the audience with his humor and
comedies. It is when he had to face serious issues like the potential suicide
of Bailey that his talent got short. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">However, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It’s a
Wonderful Life</i> is one of the most interesting Christmas movies and it
couldn’t more of a classic. With the perfect guy next door actor in <b>James
Stewart</b>, <b>George Bailey</b> takes us on a visit of our lives and reminds us that the
holidays are purposed to make us stop from our crazy lives and take the time to
meet our families and celebrate together. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlUImZzrek0x8a3vrg_DFl2vBBje4Zfl_vDxCudpu8bS7vBlWzhPd_T61BSVc68TjRVHXxXDzUeUiHY89Tnup6mj3zbLpprUzX2U4_0CwRFvImBAr2PQBwzMxYyU9VgC8p9ByijGQNJykX/s1600/Its-A-Wonderful-Life1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlUImZzrek0x8a3vrg_DFl2vBBje4Zfl_vDxCudpu8bS7vBlWzhPd_T61BSVc68TjRVHXxXDzUeUiHY89Tnup6mj3zbLpprUzX2U4_0CwRFvImBAr2PQBwzMxYyU9VgC8p9ByijGQNJykX/s1600/Its-A-Wonderful-Life1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This October 2016, <b>Paramount Home Media </b>released <i>It's A Wonderful Life</i> on Blu-Ray and they added to the pack a ''Making Of" and the "Original trailer". It was literally a Christmas gift in advance for the writer of those lines. The effect and the magnificent film just is more than perfect in its full enjoyment! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJNy9E3m57Jvp1izyGcWhejHy6ajnPGqcA_0QyyUFAtMl_P5F4k5iYon9wG8Eabz_4X1Yq-mqcwufXXAnkOgt0jLE4Wlfh2Nsm7ZYDZi74RexEUdrN5fczyrVEntjINKnv9kEjAOl7YW0j/s1600/its-a-wonderful-life-platinum-anniversary-edition-blu-ray.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJNy9E3m57Jvp1izyGcWhejHy6ajnPGqcA_0QyyUFAtMl_P5F4k5iYon9wG8Eabz_4X1Yq-mqcwufXXAnkOgt0jLE4Wlfh2Nsm7ZYDZi74RexEUdrN5fczyrVEntjINKnv9kEjAOl7YW0j/s400/its-a-wonderful-life-platinum-anniversary-edition-blu-ray.jpg" width="313" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-66944158639096836882016-11-22T12:00:00.000-05:002016-11-22T12:00:20.850-05:00The Monster Of Piedras Blancas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a7cd14e3567f379deaf0271db/images/32bdb92c-c966-4296-999e-670ec61a4c63.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a7cd14e3567f379deaf0271db/images/32bdb92c-c966-4296-999e-670ec61a4c63.jpg" width="253" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Monster Of Piedras
Blancas</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> (Irvin Berwick, 1959)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The monster, which looks like a
nastier version of "The Creature from the Black Lagoon," invades a
sleepy lighthouse town. The superstitious lighthouse keeper is worried for the
safety of his beautiful teenage daughter, so he leaves food for the monster,
who dwells in a nearby cave. When bodies wash up ashore, the locals take
notice.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a>Recently
released on a luscious Blu-Ray by <a href="http://www.olivefilms.com/2016/06/olive-films-announces-september-2016-titles/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Olive Films</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, <i>The
Monster Of Piedras Blancas</i> is an Independent Horror movie that stars <b>Jeanne Carmen</b>, <b>Les Tremayne</b>, <b>John Harmon</b>,
<b>Don Sullivan</b>, <b>Forrest Lewis</b>, and <b>Pete Dunn</b>.
In the vein of the Universal monster flicks and the Hammer Films’ popularity, <b>Irvin Berwick</b> wrote and directed an
Horror cult classic of schlock. With a taint of the good thing that made <b>Ed Wood Jr.</b>’s films pure enjoyment, <i>MOPB</i> has a violent monster, gore,
nudity, and even the proposition of adult sexual encounters. Which was not as
light as with today’s standards. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This 71
minutes feature film was presented in double bills with <i>Okefenoke</i>, a Bayou melodrama. The length of the movie makes it an
entertaining ride that goes places you wouldn’t expect for a B-movie of the
time. In fact, the B-movies of the 1950’s have some memorable moments like with
<i>Kiss Me Deadly</i>. Smaller budgets
demanded for more creativity to make more with less. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/Monsterofpiedrasblanas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/Monsterofpiedrasblanas.jpg" width="157" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What’s
important here is how <i>MOPB</i> is a
Monster movie and doesn’t try to be anything else or deny its influences of <i>The Creature Of The Black Lagoon</i>. The
visual signature is well rendered with the Blu-Ray transfer and <b>Philip H. Latrop</b>’s superb
cinematography is one of the reasons to actually take this film more seriously.
<b>Latrop</b> had a couple of Oscar
nominations in his career and it is noticeable how he got to film the exterior
with ease and how he used the light in these scenes. The lack of means is
somewhat noticeable but more in the few takes they probably had and the few rehearsals.
There is no second level to read the film and it is really and guilty pleasure
but also a nice little cult movie that may have its own life in the initiated
circles of film buffs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Honestly,
before receiving this in my promo bin I never heard about the film and this
makes it more interesting to actually discover such an obscure film that just
got released on Blu-Ray. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-58327679426501596472016-11-14T08:00:00.000-05:002016-11-14T08:00:13.410-05:00Remembering Robert Altman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.filmreference.com/images/sjff_02_img0560.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.filmreference.com/images/sjff_02_img0560.jpg" height="302" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">All of my films deal with the same thing: striving,
socially and culturally, to stay alive. And once any system succeeds, it
becomes its own worst enemy. The good things we create soon create bad things.
So nothing is ever going to be Utopian, and when I make films like </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Nashville <i>(1975)
and [</i>Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson<i> (1976)], it's not to say we're the worst
country in the world, or God, what awful people these are. I'm just saying
we're at this point and it's sad. – </i><b>Robert
Atman</b><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">November 20th
will mark the tenth year anniversary of the American directors’ death. Often
regarded as one of the few American auteurs of Cinema, <b>Altman</b> was part of the great decade of 1970’s film of the New
Hollywood of the Penns, the Scorseses, the Ashbys, the Coppolas, the
Spielbergs, the Lucas, the Rafelsons, the De Palmas, and many others. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a name='more'></a>His
subversive approach to the studio system and towards the academic strained
seriousness of movie sets and planned almost routined <i>mise en scène</i> isolated him from the comfy middle of the road big
budget film sets. Often categorized as naturalistic and dynamic his directing used
many techniques to tell his stories. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Actors were
in love with him because he let them improvise and use their creativity to
bring more authenticity to the humans they were portraying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
soundtracks of his movies are crowded of ovelapping dialogues and music. Watch <i>MASH</i>, for example, with its mutlitrack
dialogues or <i>Nashville</i> for its long
minutes of Country music. There is something genuine and absolutely genius
about these films.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://docfilms.uchicago.edu/dev/images/2014/spring/2014-04-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://docfilms.uchicago.edu/dev/images/2014/spring/2014-04-02.jpg" height="223" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>M*A*S*H</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My personal
relationship with <b>Robert Altman</b> and
his films was one of love and hate. At first, I remember not really having had
a great time with <i>Nashville</i> and its
long running time and the Country music might be one of the musical genres that
I dislike the most. So everything was aligned for me to be a bit bored and left
cold. Prior to seeing <i>Nashville</i>, I
saw <i>Gosford Park</i> in theaters and I
loved it a lot. The ensemble cast, the depiction of classes and the Sherlock
Holmes like investigation was really entertaining. Then, <i>M*A*S*H</i> got me and I liked its anti-war message and the presence of
<b>Donald Sutherland</b> and <b>Elliott Gould</b>. <i>Short Cuts</i> was also a film that I loved a lot and that doesn’t get
the praise it deserves. On the other hand, <i>Kansas
City</i> left me a bit on my appetite while having some qualities just as <i>Cookie’s Fortune</i>. It’s not until three
years ago that I watched <i>McCabe and Mrs.
Miller</i> that took the lead as my favorite <b>Robert Altman </b>film. A revisionist Western masterpiece starring <b>Warren Beatty</b> and <b>Julie Christie</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This is a
modest homage to the director I miss a lot despite the fact I haven’t watched
many of his films but the ones I saw mae an impact on me and I think I may have
to watch some more in the future and get some new reviews on this blog as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Are you an Altman
enthusiast? How many of his films have you liked/hated and which are they?<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NY-DI467_ALTMAN_P_20141202154726.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NY-DI467_ALTMAN_P_20141202154726.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Nashville</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></i></b></div>
MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-6842897072808494962016-11-04T09:08:00.000-04:002016-11-04T09:08:06.158-04:00 Book Review : The LEGO Christmas Ornaments Book: 15 Designs to Spread Holiday Cheer <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91mcuyrufgL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91mcuyrufgL.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Book Review :
<i>The LEGO Christmas Ornaments Book: 15
Designs to Spread Holiday Cheer</i> by <b>Chris
McVeigh</b> (2016, No Starch Press 1st edition)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></i></div>
<a name='more'></a><i>This
Christmas, LEGO is moving from under the tree to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>on<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>the tree! With<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The
LEGO Christmas Ornaments Book<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>as
your guide, you'll make classic globe and barrel ornaments, all out of LEGO, as
well as original gingerbread houses, a merry Santa, arcade cabinets, and many
more.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<div style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Packed with step-by-step
instructions for 15 charming builds,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The LEGO Christmas Ornaments Book<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is the perfect family activity this
holiday season.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We’ve been
sharing things to one another since 2009 and it is now the time I tell you that
I love LEGOs. Building anything with those blocks always been a passion for me
and I must also admit that I LOVE Christmas, as a matter of fact, I am
listening <b>Frank Sinatra</b>’s <i>A Jolly Christmas</i> as I am writing those
lines. So Christmas season has started the moment we had snow here in Quebec
City and more officially when I threw the pumpkins in the garbage bin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When <b>No Starch Press</b> reached me to review
this book I was more than pleased. So this year my daughter and I are gonna be
making lots of LEGO Christmas ornaments. From easy to difficult, the steps are
well illustrated and the pictures are clear. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The only
complaint I have, in fact this is my wife who has it, it made me buy more
blocks to achieve some of the most complex plans in the book. Me, I was happy
to do so just as my little Sofia was to. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming soon,
pictures of our creations and more jolly things!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-56763741439412762992016-09-21T15:00:00.000-04:002016-09-21T15:00:20.591-04:00Snoopy, Come Home<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images3.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/159008_front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images3.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/159008_front.jpg" height="320" width="254" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Editor’s note : a
big thank you to <b>Paramount Home Media
Distribution</b> for the promotional copy of this Blu-Ray release of this
animated feature classic.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Snoopy, Come Home</i> (Bill Melendez, 1972)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Snoopy travels to see
his sick former owner and then feels obliged to return to her permanently.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the <i>Peanuts</i>’
creator and writer, <b>Charles M. Schulz</b>,
<i>Snoopy, Come Home</i> is another great
rendition of <b>Schulz</b>’s unique amazing
observations of life. One of the only setbacks is the fact that <b>Vince Guaraldi</b> was not the composer of
the musical score for <i>Snoopy, Come Home</i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As many others, I grew up on watching <i>Charlie Brown</i> films and TV movies when they were aired at my local
TV station. So I sure did saw this movie before and it was probably not my
favorite one as a child because it is a sad story where Snoopy has to choose
between his first and second owner. It is a sob fest of goodbyes and the
premature characters of Charlie Brown are talking to the inner child of adults
more than to actual child. However, the dialogue between adults and this movie
is not quite well achieved and the film at 81 minutes might be too long for its
story.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some things are better in smaller doses and I think that <b>Melendez</b> and <b>Schulz</b> achieved great things with their <i>Charlie Brown</i> specials that are now pop culture classics that runs
at twenty plus minutes. It reminds me how <b>Rowan
Atkinson</b>’s <i>Bean</i> were so much
better in half hour episodes more than his feature films. Back to the <b>Melendez</b> feature it is not a total waste
of your time but it feels like a film that is looking for its niche. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Blu-Ray copy I got for review is slick and despite the
modest animation, it was 1972, it makes a decent projection on my LED TV. I don’t
think that beyond 1080p <i>Snoopy, Come Home</i>
could look better than this. It could be your definitive copy of this film if
you are like me, a nostalgic of your childhood memories. When my daughter will
grow older, I’ll definitely show this to her but at two years old she just
wouldn’t really connect with it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://animatedviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/peadub10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://animatedviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/peadub10.jpg" /></a></div>
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MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-38541752319210464322016-09-14T08:30:00.000-04:002023-08-01T20:17:20.849-04:00How Green Was My Valley<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/00/How_Green_Was_My_Valley_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/00/How_Green_Was_My_Valley_poster.jpg" width="170" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Editor’s note : this review is a
translation of one of the first reviews to ever appear on this blog back in
2009. Those were less than a 150 words long and were written immediately after
the viewing of each film. This is as aforementioned a translation and a longer
edit of this original film review.</span></i></div>
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<b><i><span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">How Green Was My Valley</span></i></b><b><span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">
(John Ford, 1941)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">At the turn of the century in a Welsh
mining village, the Morgans, he stern, she gentle, raise coal-mining sons and
hope their youngest will find a better life.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Oft maligned
as the greatest steal of all time at the Academy Awards, wining Best Picture
and Best Director over <b>Orson Welles</b>’
<i>Citizen Kane</i>, <b>John Ford</b>’s <i>How Green Was My
Valley,</i> that was supposed to be <b>William
Wyler</b>’s film, is part of one of the most prolific era of <b>Ford</b>’s career. Along <i>Stagecoach</i>, <i>The Long Voyage Home</i>, <i>Young
Mr. Lincoln</i>, <i>The Grapes of Wrath</i>,
<i>Tobacco Road</i>, and <i>Drums Along the Mohawk</i> were all made
between the time span of 1939 and 1941. This is almost as many films as <b>Stanley Kubrick</b> did in his entire
career. Joking aside, <b>Ford</b>’s <i>How Green Was My Valley</i> is quite unique
and personal in his career. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a name='more'></a>The name of <b>John Ford</b> left an imprint on the
Western and the War genres. But his major themes of family, community, and
fellowship of men were always the centerpiece of his storytelling. Often
depicted as rude but also manly men, the characters in Ford’s stories show
their friendship and love for each other in ways of getting drunk together,
singing, dancing, and fighting. His best films are the ones that have this
sense of community around them. With <i>Stagecoach</i>,
the group that is traveling together forms a community that has to unite to
defend themselves against the Apache attacks. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/How_Green_Was_My_Valley_6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/How_Green_Was_My_Valley_6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">With <i>How Green Was My Valley</i>, <b>Ford</b> returned in the Ireland of his
ancestors in a village that was not far from where they were before embarking
for America. Funny fact, due to the War in Europe the shooting took place on a
80 acres location in California where the Irish village was recreated. <b>Ford</b> will finally go in Ireland later
in his career to shoot one of his most interesting film; <i>The Quiet Man</i> starring <b>John
Wayne</b> and <b>Maureen O’Hara</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">On an even
more personal note, <b>Ford</b> was a
contradicted man, while his film is about the unions that could have help
keeping a decent human life to those coal miners, he was a strong Republican even
if he was showcasing socialist ideas and values in his films. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Arthur C. Miller</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">’s photography is beautiful and it is
a very classy classic film as an ensemble. The characters are attaching and
strong just as any family drama of Ford’s filmography.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When the <i>Citizen Kane</i> vs. <i>How Green Was My Valley</i> debate is put aside one must look at <b>John Ford</b>’s film as a great achievement
in a one of a kind career of the greatest American director of all time. Along
with <b>Alfred Hitchcock</b> and <b>Howard Hawks</b>, <b>John Ford</b> made genre films that are now masterpieces but also pop
culture references. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-38671016359109691132016-09-10T09:00:00.000-04:002023-08-01T20:17:20.849-04:00In a Lonely Place <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://cinephiliaque.yolasite.com/resources/inaloneyplace77.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cinephiliaque.yolasite.com/resources/inaloneyplace77.jpg" height="320" width="215" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Editor’s note : this review is a
translation of one of the first reviews to ever appear on this blog back in
2009. Those were less than a 150 words long and were written immediately after
the viewing of each film. This is as aforementioned a translation and a longer
edit of this original film review.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">In a Lonely Place</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> (Nicholas Ray, 1950)</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">A potentially violent screenwriter is
a murder suspect until his lovely neighbor clears him. But she begins to have
doubts...</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">One of the
many films of the 1950’s that is considered as part of the Film Noir genre with
crisp black and white, legendary director <b>Nicholas
Ray</b>, and <b>Humphrey Bogart</b>. Add to
that <b>Ray</b>’s wife at the time, <b>Gloria Grahame</b>, and you have a great
film on paper. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The opening
scene is a piece of anthology by itself in <b>Bogart</b>’s
filmography, his character Dixon Steele, a drunk screenwriter on a dry spell,
is in a bar and gets to punch a man, insult another one, and gets into a
fistfight. All of that at noon. He represents the wounded man that Bogie always
succeeded to portray in films. The perception of this actor can be compared
with this character as a man that is mysterious and a bit rude like a wild
animal that struggles to be around his peers.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">To cast
Laurel Gray, <b>Humphrey Bogart</b> wanted
his wife <b>Lauren Bacall</b> for the role
but she was tied by her studio and couldn’t be released to shoot <i>In a Lonely Place</i>. Instead, <b>Nicholas Ray</b> suggested his wife at the
time <b>Gloria Grahame</b> who ended up
having the role. However, during the production, <b>Ray</b> found <b>Grahame</b> in bed
with his son Tony of a previous marriage. The adultery resulted in the divorce
of <b>Ray</b> and <b>Grahame</b>, she later married Tony in 1960. Imagine, the set where you
have a Bogie that wanted his wife to play opposite of him but the studio wouldn’t
and then cast the future ex-wife of the director that sleepped with his own son.
It was probably boiling just as the tension of the story was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">There’s a
tension and a level of acting in this film that is in part probably due to the
actual drama of the story of the makers that helped to be as convincing. <b>Nicholas Ray</b> was already a tormented
man and the events that occurred during the shooting of the film must have
fueled him with a special energy because <i>In
A Lonely Place</i> is one of Ray’s masterpieces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiZOFGXDHPXw70iAQSj4efnzgarAcgCS0ghIj0rrMivnrw1zY2zgM2RzdVh_L1UBNsukuELSyEBTFQfCxJK8WJDFoiK9cMQ7c3Nor9XGvDYW2bdylxRk7qp466gjDUEL__HpgStgVxXKmT/s1600/2016-09-09+10_36_16-Behind+the+Scenes+of+In+a+Lonely+Place+-+From+the+Current+-+The+Criterion+Collec.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiZOFGXDHPXw70iAQSj4efnzgarAcgCS0ghIj0rrMivnrw1zY2zgM2RzdVh_L1UBNsukuELSyEBTFQfCxJK8WJDFoiK9cMQ7c3Nor9XGvDYW2bdylxRk7qp466gjDUEL__HpgStgVxXKmT/s320/2016-09-09+10_36_16-Behind+the+Scenes+of+In+a+Lonely+Place+-+From+the+Current+-+The+Criterion+Collec.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nicholas Ray, Burnett Guffey, Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame<br />
source: www.criterion.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The
aesthetics of the film are beautiful and minimalist with a keen sense of
economy and efficiency by photographer <b>Burnett
Guffey.</b> He was no <b>Gordon Lewis</b>
but will be one of the most important figures of the Film noir genre and its credits
roll with films like <i>Bonnie and Clyde</i>,
<i>Birdman of Alcatraz</i>, and <i>From Here to Eternity</i> among others. His
touch will make this small set of apartments look vibrant and unique.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Back when I
first watched <i>In a Lonely Place</i> it
was a film that was in high esteem but I don’t recall if it was already
available on DVD format. It was a foreign copy of the film that was handed to
me and it was a love at first watch to be completely honest. Even if I was
still astounded by <i>Rebel Without a Cause</i>,
<i>In a Lonely Place</i> would have a dear
place in my cinematic memory. The ultimate Bogart performance and one of the
most genuine Film noir. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Recently, the prestigious <a href="http://www.criterion.com/">Criterion Collection</a> released <i>In a Lonely Place</i> and I am wondering about
the results of the transfer on glorious 2K Blu-Ray because even the bootleg
copy I got was superb, it might elevate it to a whole new level. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/release_boxshots/4502-aa9b42846d22f83d5ef85f1021e27946/810_BD_box_348x490_original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/release_boxshots/4502-aa9b42846d22f83d5ef85f1021e27946/810_BD_box_348x490_original.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Criterion Blu-Ray Cover</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-25756484997861801422016-09-08T15:00:00.000-04:002016-09-08T15:00:20.455-04:00The Return<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://image.toutlecine.com/photos/b/a/r/barton-fink-1991-04-g.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://image.toutlecine.com/photos/b/a/r/barton-fink-1991-04-g.jpg" height="246" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br />It’s been a
while since I was around dear readers and followers and I must admit having
missed you all! Since our last encounters, back in April this year, we however
left on a good note with a <a href="http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.com/2016/04/la-femme-da-cote.html" target="_blank">great film</a> from the French master <b>François Truffaut</b>.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a> <o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX34D5Y4d-FOYhysdHqxDtr8sNrA87dsE9UbElfjFXMyFjOoGeGXs_DIpTeiYXIETeLMjKpUtOpeuZxXEjLIYsQxKBuukv9LBhi7v-Eg2HOmOuQU1Z0YoF12jU1MpWXTLa_0HM1vsGN0TZ/s1600/2016-09-08+14_49_42-Le+Mot+du+Melomaniaque.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX34D5Y4d-FOYhysdHqxDtr8sNrA87dsE9UbElfjFXMyFjOoGeGXs_DIpTeiYXIETeLMjKpUtOpeuZxXEjLIYsQxKBuukv9LBhi7v-Eg2HOmOuQU1Z0YoF12jU1MpWXTLa_0HM1vsGN0TZ/s200/2016-09-08+14_49_42-Le+Mot+du+Melomaniaque.png" width="198" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Pretty much
of my writing was about music and new releases in Metal at <a href="https://www.blogger.com/lemotdumelomaniaque.blogspot.ca">Le Mot du Melomaniaque</a>. Even there I
kind of had an existential crisis or a dry spell. Low readership and less time
to actually consume movies was the primary cause of this let down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">On the hand,
I loss many of my peers when I got into this back in 2009 : <b>John LaRue</b> (<i>The Droid You’re Looking For</i>), <b>Ed
Howard</b> (<i>Only the Cinema</i>), <b>Squish Lessard</b> (<i>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Blog Club</i>), <b>Kevyn Knox</b> (<i>The Most Beautiful Fraud In The World</i>), <b>Chris </b>(<i>Moviesandsongs365</i>),
<b><i>Bonjour
Tristesse</i></b>, and many others have left the field due to multiple reasons.
Lastly, a dear blogger friend of mine <b>Chip
Lary</b> (<i>Tips From Chip</i>) passed away
earlier this year. It saddened me to lose a person I've only known through a virtual reality but even if we could disagree about films we shared the same passion and it counted more than being always on the same opinion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">On a happier note, <b>Barry</b> (<i><a href="http://cinematiccatharsis.blogspot.com/">Cinematic Catharsis</a></i>)
and <b>Groggy Dundee</b> (<i><a href="http://nothingiswrittenfilm.blogspot.com/">Nothing Is Written</a></i>) are
still at it. Through all of this, I find myself looking for my voice into all this evolution of the
social networks and even if the trend of blogging is more or less on the
descent I kind of want to keep writing and share my passion and my opinions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This time I
not pushing myself to achieve any goal other than to watch and review films I
truly want to watch and write about. Maybe this year I’ve finally end up rewriting
this damn review about <i><a href="http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.com/2013/12/national-lampoons-christmas-vacation.html" target="_blank">Christmas Vacation</a></i>…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So no themes,
no blogathons, no retrospectives only pure Cinema in a random selection from
Cult films, pop flicks to timeless Classics. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This is my
way of saying to all of you : <b>I am
still alive and I will hunt you down and kick a new review once in a while</b>
until I watch every damn film I receive from the nice promo people that are
sending Blu-Ray copies to my home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoMQD7LqYPrj0e33yb4BOveN34N9w8gxnFJzQiQ6fs1g4HjrcXyQt2gB8zrnYY7ybr45Smzo26x11N97GvLcCSfNUctPlvcM7nLDIzDINyaa4B48PfJ6Sh9XHrMRT27u8aJ0nLm8NArRg/s1600/pile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoMQD7LqYPrj0e33yb4BOveN34N9w8gxnFJzQiQ6fs1g4HjrcXyQt2gB8zrnYY7ybr45Smzo26x11N97GvLcCSfNUctPlvcM7nLDIzDINyaa4B48PfJ6Sh9XHrMRT27u8aJ0nLm8NArRg/s1600/pile.jpg" /></a></div>
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MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-5656328415896529122016-09-06T17:00:00.000-04:002016-09-07T08:41:17.988-04:00My List of The 21st Century’s Greatest Films<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/wm/live/1280_640/images/live/p0/45/4c/p0454cv4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/wm/live/1280_640/images/live/p0/45/4c/p0454cv4.jpg" height="200" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">So here’s my
individual list of the </span><a href="http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160819-the-21st-centurys-100-greatest-films" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">21st
Century’s Greatest Films of BBC’s Culture</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">. In fact, it is if I was asked to
do it when they asked many film critics to do this time consuming, hair
splitting, gut wrenching exercise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">It is fucking
hard to try to pick only ten films out of sixteen years of cinema. The worst
thing in this is that I have so many films to catch up that I don’t know how
full time film critics who watch many films a day can pick ten. This is beyond
me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">At first I
looked back at my <a href="http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.com/2009/12/les-meilleurs-films-de-la-derniere_8612.html">list
of the best films of the decade 2000-2009</a> as a starter, then I got back to my ratings of <a href="http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.ca/search/label/5star">five</a> and <a href="http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.ca/search/label/4hstar">four stars and a
half</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Finally, I
let my judgment and my cinematic memory decide which film has to be on the
list and in which position. Sometimes, my tastes got over my judgment and
other times it was the overall quality of the film that won it all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Final words :
are haters are gonna hate.<br /><br />(Click on the links to read my full reviews)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2014/10/1/1412179548768/Gone-Girl-film-of-the-wee-014.jpg?w=620&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=7d5b250926f1ee233e4d4c55d277f195" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2014/10/1/1412179548768/Gone-Girl-film-of-the-wee-014.jpg?w=620&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=7d5b250926f1ee233e4d4c55d277f195" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">10)<i>
<a href="http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.com/2014/10/gone-girl.html" target="_blank">Gone Girl</a></i><a href="http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.com/2014/10/gone-girl.html" target="_blank"> (David Fincher, 2014)</a> </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">It is one of
the most divisive choices on the list, maybe, I could have included <i>Zodiac</i> or <i>The Social Network</i> instead but it was <b>Fincher</b>’s treatment of <b>Gillian
Flynn</b> novel that got me to include a David Fincher film here. This take on
the second level of storytelling and character development was my best film of
2014. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.soindependentfilmfest.com/2014/sites/default/files/gallery/Frances_Ha_still_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.soindependentfilmfest.com/2014/sites/default/files/gallery/Frances_Ha_still_2.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">9)<i>
<a href="http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.com/2014/01/frances-ha.html" target="_blank">Frances Ha</a></i><a href="http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.com/2014/01/frances-ha.html" target="_blank"> (Noah Baumbach, 2013)</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">It was a
close one with <i>The Squid and the Whale</i>
here but the presence of <b>Greta Gerwig</b>
and the obvious homage to the French New Wave of <i>Frances Ha</i> was enough to get over the portrayal of a family’s
divorce and the difficult times that my own family, mom and dad got divorced
around the time I saw <i>The Squid and the
Whale</i> and since this film is almost autobiographical of my life back then.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://cdn1.ouchpress.com/media/celebrities/58/natalie-portman-21468.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn1.ouchpress.com/media/celebrities/58/natalie-portman-21468.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">8)<i>
<a href="http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.com/2011/01/black-swan.html" target="_blank">Black Swan</a></i><a href="http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.com/2011/01/black-swan.html" target="_blank"> (Darren Aronofsky, 2010)</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Batshitcrazy
film of Thriller/Horror grandeur in the difficult yet beautiful world of the
New York city ballet. Along with its predecessor <i>The Wrestler</i> is Aronofsky’s exploration of the obsession and
dedication to a craft as demanding as art or entertainment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://static.rogerebert.com/uploads/review/primary_image/reviews/great-movie-adaptation-2002/hero_EB20080918REVIEWS08809180300AR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://static.rogerebert.com/uploads/review/primary_image/reviews/great-movie-adaptation-2002/hero_EB20080918REVIEWS08809180300AR.jpg" height="166" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">7)<i>
Adaptation </i>(Spike Jonze, 2002)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">From filming
skateboarding movies, <b>Spike Jonze</b>
has always had the flair for unique films paired with the twisted mind of
Charlie Kaufman and his screenplay, you have one heck of a great film within
the film. Now this is a <b>Nicolas Cage</b>
I can enjoy!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/inglouriousbasterds/images/1/10/Hans_Landa's_Calabash_pipe.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130826121745" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/inglouriousbasterds/images/1/10/Hans_Landa's_Calabash_pipe.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130826121745" height="166" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">6)<i>
<a href="http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.com/2012/04/inglourious-basterds.html" target="_blank">Inglourious Basterds</a></i><a href="http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.com/2012/04/inglourious-basterds.html" target="_blank"> (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">It had to has
a <b>Tarantino</b> film on my list and it
was not difficult at all deciding which one deserves to be on here. As much as
I loved the two <i>Kill Bill</i> volumes, I
was not sure about the hit or miss <i>Django
Unchained</i> and I’m still virgin of <i>The
Hateful Eight</i>. For me, Inglourious Basterds is everything I love about QT,
the writing, the arrogance, the uncompromised vision. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://dazedimg.dazedgroup.netdna-cdn.com/786/azure/dazed-prod/1130/6/1136067.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://dazedimg.dazedgroup.netdna-cdn.com/786/azure/dazed-prod/1130/6/1136067.jpg" height="213" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">5) <i>Almost
Famous</i> (Cameron Crowe, 2000)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">This coming
of age story is <b>Crowe</b>’s masterpiece
and everything he did after was in its shadow. A crowning achievement of
autobiographical scape that link Classic Rock to films and those stranded years
we all have to live by.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://filmfork-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/content/Royal%20Tenenbaums%20-%209.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://filmfork-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/content/Royal%20Tenenbaums%20-%209.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">4)<i>
The Royal Tenenbaums</i> (Wes Anderson, 2001)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Of the few
films that can make me cry this one as the pole position. The story of a father
that lies about his health to get his family back together all that with <b>Wes Anderson</b>’s quirky <i>mise en scène</i> and signature. This is a
story that is very close to mine and I picture my own father as <b>Gene Hackman</b> and the tone of the film
gets me in a very particular mood despite the laughable aforementioned
eccentricities of the ensemble. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/709071/25137674/1404254432650/mulhollanddrive-pinkpalms.png?token=eEAjZHY9MbEaQT0AznKvqxI2J2k%3D" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/709071/25137674/1404254432650/mulhollanddrive-pinkpalms.png?token=eEAjZHY9MbEaQT0AznKvqxI2J2k%3D" height="215" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">3) <a href="http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.com/2013/07/mulholland-drive.html" target="_blank"><i>Mulholland Dr.</i> (David Lynch, 2001)</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The winner of
the poll, <i>Mulholland Dr.</i>, and
probably one of the most multi layered films of the seventy last years or since <i>Citizen Kane</i>, is an ode to Cinema and
Hollywood. The work of a genius and a true artist. <b>Naomi Watts</b> gives a performance that will haunt you for days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://thefilmstage.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/the_tree_of_life_header-e1395841764233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://thefilmstage.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/the_tree_of_life_header-e1395841764233.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">2) <a href="http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.com/2011/06/tree-of-life.html" target="_blank"><i>The Tree of Life</i> (Terrence Malick, 2011)</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">A divisive
film that got me in my deepest core. One the longest reviews I ever written and
one I am most proud of. It hasn’t been often that I screamed masterpiece when
coming out of the theater but with this film I was more than sure it was one of
the most important films of all time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.tasteofcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/there-will-be-blood-plainview-eli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.tasteofcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/there-will-be-blood-plainview-eli.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">1)<i>
There Will Be Blood</i> (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">P.T. Anderson’s
film was my number one back when I put together my list of the 100 best films
of 2000-2009. It is still one of the films that left the biggest imprint in my
memory, it sums up pretty much of the American History with its religion(s),
the American Dream of the self-made man, and the obsession of oil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-82361244494510843832016-09-02T15:00:00.000-04:002016-09-02T15:00:17.003-04:00 Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1a/Don't_Tell_Mom_The_Babysitters_Dead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1a/Don't_Tell_Mom_The_Babysitters_Dead.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Don’t Tell Mom the
Babysitter’s Dead</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> (Stephen Herek, 1991)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Five kids are left home when their
mother leaves town on a three-month vacation to Australia, only to have their
geriatric babysitter die of a heart attack, leading to the eldest teen, Sue
Ellen (<b>Christina Applegate</b>), to scam
her way into taking a job at a hip Los Angeles fashion company to feed and
support her needy siblings.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a>Here on <i>Le Mot du Cinephiliaque</i> we are not
always only highbrows and snobbish film fans, we also like our entertainment
entertaining and our cult films and our campy films. Coming out of a long
hiatus as the one that was here we had to make it clear that it is a slow but
dedicated return to the world of movies for us here. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This review
of a film of the early 1990’s is not only a return to form but also a reminder
of how film criticism can be tainted by our path in life and how some film can
be a return in time as it is for nostalgia and also time or episodic memory of
our own life. Lately, <b>Werner Herzog</b>
was speaking about the story we each create in our own heads when we are
watching a movie. It is a parallel story to the one that is told on the screen
by its author. So for me, American films circa 1982 to 1993 are linked to the
story of my childhood and each film of that time is like watching a bit of my
memory. It is a struggle for me to not try to relate too much to everything I
gaze of these films. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The funny
thing is it was my first time watching <i>Don’t
Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead</i> but it was my wife that watched it many
times back when she was a preteen dreaming of fashion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Much like <i>Summer School</i> (1987), <i>Don’t Tell Mom</i> is a summer vacation
flick for teens released on June 7 of 1991 and it is a <i>Home Alone</i> (1990) for this age trunk. While not being as succesful
as the <b>Macauley Culkin</b> vehicule or
as funny as <i>Summer School</i>, it is
quite entertaining and <b>Christina
Applegate</b> gives an honest performance. The director also put classic movie
references here and there for the most knowledgeables of us to notice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This is the
kind of movie that puts you in a special mood and far from being the best of
1991 (it was a pretty decent year in fact with <i>JFK</i>, <i>Raise the Red Lantern</i>,
<i>A Brighter Summer Day</i>) it is a film
that can easily be in my rainy summer afternoon rotation along <i>Summer School</i>, and <i>Ferris Bueller’s Day Off</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-61262897575150983522016-04-25T12:06:00.003-04:002023-08-01T20:17:20.851-04:00La femme d’à côté<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/Woman-next-door-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/Woman-next-door-poster.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">La femme d’à côté</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
(François Truffaut, 1981)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Two ex-lovers wind up living next door
to each other with their respective spouses. Forbidden passions ensue.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In Grenobles,
France, Bernard (<b>Gérard Depardieu</b>)
lives a happy life with his wife Arlette (<b>Michèle
Baumgartner</b>) and son Thomas (<b>Olivier
Becquaert</b>) until one day new neighbors come to inhabit the house next to
theirs. Philippe (<b>Henri Garcin</b>) and
Mathilde (<b>Fanny Ardant</b>), are a newly
married couple and we soon discover that Bernard and Mathilde were lovers many
years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">François Truffaut</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> was a man of Cinema, he was in love
with it and he was in love with telling stories about men who are in love. Much
like <b>Alfred Hitchcock</b>, Truffaut was
in a way living through his films, at the time he made <i>The Woman Next Door</i>, he was in couple with <b>Fanny Ardant</b> and just the way he shoots her in his film we know he
loved her to death. All of his films are about men who are passionately in love
with women. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">With the
simple story of <i>The Woman Next Door</i>,
we kind of felt that the story was about the ultimate love story of a couple
that was together but they were too intense and too dangerous for each other to
be even close to one another. In a way, they are rejecting each other all along
the film. This is an intoxicating relationship and both lovers can’t live
without the love of the other lover but knows it is not good for themselves
respectively.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Truffaut’s
films are a testimony of his love for films but also to women. They are simply
told with effective but simple storytelling techniques. Anecdotes are sparsed
here and there about classic films like one about <b>Tod Browning</b>’s <i>The Unknown</i>.
Often under appreciated, <i>The Woman Next
Door</i> might be one of my favorite film from the director. The cinematography
by <b>William Lubtchansky</b> is beautiful
and intimist. I like the opening and closing shots following the ambulance.
The whole movie, even if widely inspired by American films, has a totally
European breath that the suburban France brought as the context of the reunion
of the two lovers but also as the unfolding of their story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">To me, <i>La femme d’à côté</i> is another Truffaut
film at his best and I wouldn’t be able to really rank it since I am a huge fan
of his movies. Nonetheless, it is near his greatest achievements without being
as influential or as groundbreaking as <i>Les
400 coups</i> and <i>Jules et Jim</i>.
Clearly, a five star film.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-67310726107236818492016-04-15T08:00:00.000-04:002023-08-01T20:20:57.358-04:00Grizzly Man<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e5/Grizzly_man_ver2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e5/Grizzly_man_ver2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Grizzly Man</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
(Werner Herzog, 2005)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A devastating and heartrending take on
grizzly bear activists <b>Timothy Treadwell</b>
and <b>Amie Huguenard</b>, who were killed
in October of 2003 while living among grizzlies in Alaska.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></b></div>
<a name='more'></a><b>Werner Herzog</b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> is a commonly well known name in
films, having directed many dozens films in fiction and documentary, he has had
a phase in the early 2000’s where he directed many documentaries. Always with
great ambition and a taste for the enigmatic aspects of the human, Herzog took
the many hours of footage shot by activist <b>Timothy
Treadwell</b> during his thirteen summers in a preserved area in Alaska among
grizzly bears. Sadly, Threadwell and his girlfriend were mauled and killed by
one of the specimen they were observing.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">At first, the
macabre of the subject seems to be the first appeal for Herzog and his
sensational flair for stories. But, as the film goes and the footage is shown,
edited by the way because there was more than a 100 hours, we understand Herzog’s
fascination with the character that Treadwell made of himself. Inventing a new
name, identity, and even an Australian accent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It is not
just that character that Herzog grasped when he watched the footage, it was the
spiritualization of the Threadwell’s vision of his relationship with the bears
and how it helped him in a rebirth from a life he struggled with alcohol. ‘’Protecting’’
the bears gave him a purpose and a ‘’mission’’ to be on Earth. This belief in
Threadwell’s mind planted an megalomaniac perspective that he was even
essential to the survival of the bears. Almost as if he wished for the bears to
survive pass him in Katmai National Park. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There are
many arguments about the presence of Threadwell and how it may have not helped
the preservation and the general perception of grizzly bears with his acts.
Even the film itself raised many questions and critics. Here we are only
discussing about the film as entertainment and art and <i>Grizzly Man</i> is a documentary that keeps us at the edge of our
seats. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
narratives of <b>Werner Herzog</b> are spot
on and as the reviews at the time I am positive about the documentary <i>Grizzly Man</i> and it printed indelible
images in my memory and I will keep a strong impression of Herzog’s qualities
as a storyteller as with fiction or documentary. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-57030353092837037412016-04-12T12:30:00.000-04:002016-04-12T13:01:03.888-04:00Mother Kusters’ Trip to Heaven<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d6/Mother_K%C3%BCsters'_Trip_to_Heaven.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d6/Mother_K%C3%BCsters'_Trip_to_Heaven.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Mother Kusters’ Trip to
Heaven</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"> (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1975)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Frau Kusters (<b>Brigitte Mira</b>) is preparing dinner late one seemingly ordinary
afternoon in her seemingly ordinary kitchen in Frankfurt, Germany. Mrs. Kusters
wants to add canned sausages to the stew, her annoying daughter-in-law thinks
otherwise. The point, we soon find out, is moot: Mr. Kusters has murdered the
personnel director at the soap factory where he works before committing
suicide.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The world of
writer / director <b>Rainer Werner
Fassbinder</b> is made of many elements that are unique to his films and his
vision of the world; a cynic one you must say. The representation of Mother
Kusters in the originally titled German <i>Mutter
Küsters Fahrt Zum Himmel</i> is the representation of Germany when the nation
attempted the social suicide of the Second World War. The murder of his boss
followed by his suicide made Mr. Kusters a representation of how the patriarchal
society of Germany failed on its people and left them at the mercy of anyone.
Mother Kusters enters a territory where she has almost no one to find help and
support in the situation. Her story is taken as sensationalism by the
journalists, she is recruited by socialists, and she even enrolled in an anarchist
group in the first of the two endings of the film. We will get back at this
last thing later. </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">It makes <i>Mother Kusters’</i> the most post French New
Wave Godardian film made by Fassbinder. However, the German director gets
cynical with every movement or dogma he encounters in his film. There is a
pessimistic violence in Mother Kusters that is set by the sudden death of Mr.
Kusters. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The film also
feels more like an essay on politics and seems to translate Fassbinder’s loath for
the German nation. It is difficult to get his clear thoughts on the story
because of the ever change of focus and even the dual endings that are
completely opposed to one another. The second one, of the American version, feels
like a forced happy ending that makes us doubt of the widower’s truth. While
the first ending that is told with only captions is more tragic and shows that
there is no issue but to let things get where they are and how they will always
be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">It is an
interesting film in the career of <b>Rainer
Werner Fassbinder</b>, definitely not my favorite but another strong effort.
One thing I did not mentioned a lot in my other posts about Fassbinder’s films
is the cinematography by <b>Michael
Ballhaus</b>, which I enjoy a lot and I think that he is often overlooked for
the most mainstream names of the 1970’s. However, a long time collaborator to
Fassbinder, Ballhaus used to be able to make that era seems vibrant and his use
of colors is outstanding and I can understand why later in his career he worked
with <b>Martin Scorsese</b>, <b>Francis Ford Coppola</b>, and <b>Mike Nicholls</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">If the
political <b>Jean-Luc Godard</b> of <i>Weekend</i> and <i>Tout Va Bien</i> is your cup of tea and that you loved the BRD trilogy
by Fassbinder I would then highly recommend <i>Mother
Kusters’ Trip to Heaven</i>. Otherwise, it is a dense film that needs all your
attention and has a lot to say and might need more than one viewing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-15937403741343905642016-03-16T07:00:00.000-04:002023-08-01T20:20:57.350-04:00Berlin Alexanderplatz – Part I ‘’The Punishment Begins’’<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ef/Berlin_Alexanderplatz_Remastered_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ef/Berlin_Alexanderplatz_Remastered_poster.jpg" /></a><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></i><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">(Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1980)</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Adapted from
the <b>Alfred Döblin</b> novel of the same
name, the short series of 15 ½ hours is an achievement in storytelling and book
adaptation. With the boldness of Herr <b>Fassbinder</b>
and his fascination for the History of Germany in the first half of the 20th
Century <i>Berlin Alexanderplatz</i> holds a
cult status amongst cinephiles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><i>Franz Biberkopf (<b>Günter Lamprecht</b>) is released after serving four years in Tegel
prison for the murder of his girlfriend Ida (<b>Barbara Valentin</b>). After settling into his old apartment he visits
Minna (<b>Karin Baal</b>), Ida’s sister.
Minna succumbs to Franz forceful advances. In a flashback we see Franz killing
Ida with a cream whip after correctly suspecting she was about to leave him. </i><i><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Franz
later runs into his old friend Meck (<b>Franz
Buchrieser</b>) and has a drink with him in Max’s (<b>Claus Holm</b>) bar, a local place. There he meets Lina Przybilla (<b>Elisabeth Trissenaar</b>), a young Polish
woman, who moves in with him. He receives notification from the Berlin Police
that he is barred from living in certain Berlin districts and surrounding
municipalities, under the threat of a fine or imprisonment, Biberkopf places
himself under the supervision of a charity called Prisoners' Aid, to which he
must report once a month, and remain in employment. By doing this, he is able
to remain in Berlin.</span><o:p></o:p></i><br />
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<a href="http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z43/sevenarts/cinema/alexanderplatz-ep1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z43/sevenarts/cinema/alexanderplatz-ep1.jpg" height="236" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Here is the setup for the
whole fresque that is <i>Berlin
Alexanderplatz</i> a parallel with Germany and its History. Alfred Döblin’s novel
is one of the most iconic novels of the Weimar Republic and is considered a
masterpiece of literature. Director <b>Rainer
Werner Fassbinder</b> always felt he had a close link with the novel and its
protagonist Franz Biberkopf. Fassbinder said he read the novel at age fourteen
and it helped him during his puberty. So <i>Berlin
Alexanderplatz</i> is like the culmination of his exploration of the History of
Germany. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">The first chapter of the
mini-series sets the pace of the story and shows how Franz is a man with his
own way of doing things like sex. He is a rough man and he scratches everything
on his way. We also discover that he is into a series of karma-like bad luck
and unlucky destiny. As many Fassbinder characters he has a peculiar sexuality
and he represents a bold character in a frail world where everyone seems to be
living a tenuous existence. It looks like every female character has something
broken in it and Franz has this self-confidence that makes him attractive in
his dangerous behaviors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Keep coming back for the
Marchbinder month and we’ll go on with the mini-series of <i>Berlin Alexanderplatz</i> and its exploration of Fassbinder, Germany,
and Franz Biberkopf.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-44673929275722073662016-03-14T08:00:00.000-04:002023-08-01T20:17:20.850-04:00In a Year With 13 Moons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/In_a_Year_of_13_Moons_film_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/In_a_Year_of_13_Moons_film_poster.jpg" width="243" /></a></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">In a Year With 13 Moons</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">
(Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1978)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">This drama follows the last few days
in the life of Elvira (formerly Erwin) Weisshaupt. Years before, Erwin told a
co-worker, Anton, that he loved him. "Too bad, you aren't a woman,"
he replied. Erwin took Anton at his word. Trying to salvage something from the
wreckage love has made of his life, he now hopes that Anton will not reject him
again.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a name='more'></a>Following the
suicide of his lover <b>Armin Meier</b>,
film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder has written, directed, and photographed
his most personal and an intense film with <i>In
a Year with 13 Moons</i>. It was only the second time that Fassbinder shot one
of his films and it resulted in a beautiful dark film about some of the most
recurrent themes of his filmography; love, affection, desire, victims and
oppressors.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Here, the
victim is Elvira (<b>Volker Spengler</b>)
who went to Casablanca to get a surgery to pass from Erwin, a man, to Elvira a
woman. Following his great crush for Anton Saitz (<b>Gottfried John</b>) he decided to become a woman. However, Anton is the
perfect kind of oppressor that populates Fassbinder’s films and is a real
estate rich man that represents capitalism and people that exploit the
sensitively weak.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z43/sevenarts/cinema/filmsilove/13moons8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z43/sevenarts/cinema/filmsilove/13moons8.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Structured as
a spiritual quest, the film goes from the location where Elvira met Anton, the
slaughterhouse in a scene that reminded me of Georges Franju’s <i>Le sang des bêtes</i>. Then, Elvira goes at
the orphanage and talks to a sister (Fassbinder’s mother) that explain her
childhood. We also discover his daughter and former wife. It is clear that
Elvira is looking for her sexual identity and doesn’t really fit into any life
patterns or gender specifics. Fassbinder sure has put lots of himself and his
personal path into his heroine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">T</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">here’s a
touch into every Fassbinder film that is so personal, raw, and passionate that
I am always surprised how I am very fond of his films. It is probable that </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In a Year With 13 Moons</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> is one of his
most personal film. Just as I personally love and cherish </span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Stanley Kubrick</b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">’s </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Shining</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">,
also the director’s most personal film, I think that it is not really
considered as his masterpiece just as </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In
a Year With 13 Moons </i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">might not be the Fassbinder masterpiece but one of his
most important examples of sheer talent in storytelling and visual wizardry.</span></div>
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<a href="http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z43/sevenarts/cinema/filmsilove/13moons14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z43/sevenarts/cinema/filmsilove/13moons14.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUe_BUwsMjOU10LYU_bJC0IuiOnWrF-fafNFKUjTlqZt8VOKDjTjCZGyQ3DJLyBM7urq5uE8yK22668w_DmvL4qLa6V7ITVpscN5mVXbVx_L6sAJ-kVKVkJPI3zVxrIYlwQpwZc4o9LbPa/s1600/Marchbinder.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUe_BUwsMjOU10LYU_bJC0IuiOnWrF-fafNFKUjTlqZt8VOKDjTjCZGyQ3DJLyBM7urq5uE8yK22668w_DmvL4qLa6V7ITVpscN5mVXbVx_L6sAJ-kVKVkJPI3zVxrIYlwQpwZc4o9LbPa/s1600/Marchbinder.png" /></a></div>
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MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-73765130812082638502016-03-08T07:00:00.000-05:002023-08-01T20:20:57.358-04:00Veronika Voss<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c7/Veronikavoss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c7/Veronikavoss.jpg" width="289" /></a></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Veronika Voss</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">
(Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1982)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Munich, 1955: A sports journalist
meets Veronika Voss (<b>Rosel Zech</b>), an
UFA actress who supposedly had an affair with Goebbels. Now declining, Voss is
kept by her "kind" doctor, Dr. Katz, supplying her house, food, clean
clothes and her favourite: morphine. Voss, trying to come back towards the
cinema, cannot perform an absurdly simple scene, but it attracts the attention
of the journalist, who suspects that something's very wrong regarding her
doctor.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The last film
released during the life of director <b>Rainer
Werner Fassbinder</b>, <i>Veronika Voss</i>
is the second chapter of the BRD trilogy but the one that was released last.
Shot in a beautiful crisp black and white, the story of Veronika Voss is about
the life of German actress <b>Sybille Schmitz</b>
and obviously an homage to Billy Wilder’s masterpiece <i>Sunset Boulevard</i>. Also worth noticing, Rosel Zech looks a lot like
Marlene Dietrich of the era of her collaborations with Josef Von Sternberg. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Compared to
the two other films in the BRD trilogy, <i>The
Marriage of Maria Braun</i> and <i>Lola</i>
that were inspired by and wrote as 1950’s melodramas, <i>Voss</i> is more like a Film noir with a doomed loved story and no
clean characters. The whole trilogy is a dedication to Fassbinder’s American
influences and his favorite stories. With <i>Voss</i>,
he exploits Cinema and the once great UFA
in Germany during the silent era. Back then, Germany was at the
forefront of the seventh art. But sadly, Hitler and the Nazi party took power
and used films as one of the most important tools for its devastating propaganda.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Fassbinder
does not make a process about the Germany’s use of the media but deals with the
effects it had on many of its actors. When a nation has such a past it is
difficult not to think about it but also it is even harder when no ones talks
about it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">As beautiful
as the film <i>Veronika Voss</i> looks, it
might be the one I liked the least of the three films populating the BRD
trilogy. Fassbinder is a better melodrama storyteller than a film noir
filmmaker even if he was one if not the best director of the German New Wave
together along with Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Fassbinder
died in June of 1982 having called one of his close friends and telling him he
flushed down all of his drugs except for one line of cocaine. This last one,
like a last tour de piste would eventually kill him during the night and stop
his great career of 40 films at only 36 years old. The main characters of his
BRD trilogy were all women of intense scale. Veronika Voss would probably be
the one that represents him the best. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-70975045269341025772016-03-04T08:00:00.000-05:002023-08-01T20:20:57.358-04:00Lola (1981)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Lolagermanposter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Lolagermanposter.jpg" width="272" /></a></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Lola</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">
(Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1981)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">West Germany, late 1950s: Lola is a
singing prostitute working in a brothel that the town's bigwigs, even the
mayor, like to frequent. To the annoyance of the corrupt construction
entrepreneurs, especially a crass man named Schukert, the town's new building
commissioner von Bohm is an honest and idealistic man who tries to clean up the
building license politics from bribery and cheating.<span class="apple-converted-space"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<a name='more'></a>The final
part of the <i>BRD trilogy</i>, <i>Lola</i> is a post-war retelling of <b>Josef Von Sternberg</b>’s <i>The Blue Angel</i> and a mix of <b>Jean Renoir</b>’s <i>The Rules of the Game</i>. Both masters and masterpieces that have
widely influenced <b>Rainer Werner
Fassbinder</b> as well as melodrama mastermind <b>Douglas Sirk</b>. The style and form of <i>Lola</i> is filled with lush and vibrant colors that contrast with the
screeching drama that occurs to Von Bohn (<b>Armin
Mueller-Stahl</b>) and Schuckert (<b>Mario
Adorf</b>) while being manipulated by Lola (<b>Barbara Sukowa</b>). As with the entire trilogy, a female character is
the central element of each film. Even if in <i>Lola</i>, Lola has less screen time that Von Bohn and Schuckert she is
the pivotal element of both men’s lives. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPoKJlPfAleKtBoXHpxms7UmF4mW40TMtOkhIdz4u3aaEjLw_q1ZArRu_BD2Sf-jtIt1MpKQxD8sJvoKYOSIUJlUqOdsuRU39_35YpyjwS0XIKrih0rIC1iAYDTKv4khKYUUPDQ7Du6P8Z/s1600/lola.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPoKJlPfAleKtBoXHpxms7UmF4mW40TMtOkhIdz4u3aaEjLw_q1ZArRu_BD2Sf-jtIt1MpKQxD8sJvoKYOSIUJlUqOdsuRU39_35YpyjwS0XIKrih0rIC1iAYDTKv4khKYUUPDQ7Du6P8Z/s400/lola.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">As with <i>The Marriage of Maria Braun</i>, parallels
with Fassbinder’s life are easy to make between him and his heroins. He also
make metaphors on the post-war West Germany with, for example, the presence of
the black American soldier that represents the American occupation.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The way Von Bohn sees Lola and agrees to her lifestyle wraps up how the West German society was hypocritical in the late 1950's but also how everything was up for sale. The whore, flesh, and even Von Bohn's own morale. As Rousseau stated, it is not men who are instinctly bad but it is society that turns them into bad men. It's influence and the natural effect of wanting to fit in the mold and answer to the role we are all asked to act. <i>Lola</i> represents the cave in of Von Bohn's values into extreme capitalism.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">On the other hand, Fassbinder directed his actors to be complete exgerations of their characters and used the term black comedy for his command on the film. He was still in the melo mode of 1950's Sirk inspired films but did not wanted to make a weeping drama. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">With <i>The Marriage of Maria Braun</i>, the BRD trilogy continues with <i>Veronika Voss</i> that will conclude this female titled tirlogy about 1950's West Germany and its excesses. <i>Lola</i> is almost a superior film to <i>Maria Braun</i> and goes way beyond in its social commentary and in the Fassbinder signature.</span><br />
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MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2379353038189641208.post-22200626082114416782016-03-01T07:00:00.000-05:002023-08-01T20:17:20.848-04:00The Marriage of Maria Braun<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Marriage of Maria
Braun</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1979)</span></b></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A World War II widow seeks to adjust
to life in postwar Germany.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rainer Werner Fassbinder</b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">’s films have this in your face
quality that few filmmakers have achieved even when trying. When your main
character gets married in Berlin during a World War II bombing and the opening
credits are in sheer red on the screen, you know this story will have a tragic conclusion.
Maria marries Hermann a German soldier and the day after they did he is sent in
away to fight. For days she waits at the train station in despair trying to
survive with her mother and grand-father in tow. Quickly, she will learn that
she has to be a strong woman to make her husband proud and keep her family
alive in the difficult post-war time. I’m keeping many details of the plot so
you’ll have to discover them while you watch the film.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fassbinder was
openly inspired by the melodramas of <b>Douglas
Sirk</b> and his approach on the life of Maria Braun is tainted in this style
and genre. It permits strong emotions and an overwhelming mise en scene. Sometimes
the scenes are shot with only one point of view and one camera while the
framing is stuffed with props and set structures. Giving a more brutal vision
of the situation. A bit like <b>Josef Von
Sternberg</b>’s mise en scene but also really personal to Fassbinder’s cinema.
The Fassbinder touch as I like to call it, is direct links to Sirk’s films like
the big windows reminding of the same window’s in <i>All That Heaven Allows</i>, a film that Fassbinder remade with his <i>Ali : Fear Eats the Soul</i>. There are
also superb colors in the costume design department that are links to the
lavish colors of Sirk’s 1950’s films. However, Fassbinder is not doing
pastiches of his favorite films but sees his stories as melodramas and he knew
how to direct women that become like his self on the screen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In fact, the
story of his leading ladies, often doomed from the beginning, are projections
of his inner self. The story of Maria Braun is in a way his story as an artist
trying to make his own. This workaholic had to perform and make proud his lovers always unsatisfied with himself.
Fassbinder always saw himself as doomed on arrival and seemed to work as if he
had not enough time. Well, he did died at 37 years old and having directed more
than forty films. It is hard not to link <i>The
Marriage of Maria Braun</i> and his own life story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Starting the first
edition of <b>Marchbinder</b> with the
first instalment of the <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRD_Trilogy">BRD trilogy</a> </i>couldn’t
be more accurate. Having only watched <i>The
Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kamp</i> and <i>Ali :
Fear Eats the Soul</i> I’ve decided that I should discover more and more this
great filmmaker. So many editions of the Marchbinder in the coming years will
be hosted here at Le Mot du Cinephiliaque to dig entirely into who I consider
to be the most interesting face of the <b>German
New Wave</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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MPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366182655374603950noreply@blogger.com0