Ploafmaster General

Director Paul Thomas Anderson has done great things with There Will Be Blood. After my first viewing, I believe the film to be about runaway ambition at the cost of anything and anyone around you - but I could be wrong. At any rate, I plan to watch it again, and I can only hope that Daniel Day Lewis indeed receives the Oscar for Best Actor.

There were scenes in this film which tightened my innards, making me writhe with discomfort. There's one scene, particularly, where Lewis' character forces his son to drink a glass of of goat's milk mixed with a heavy dose of whiskey to calm the child down. It's a fixed shot held for what feels too long - not in the poor editing sense, but rather long enough to force the audience into sharing the discomfort.

5/5, and I certainly plan to add this to my collection when it releases on DVD.

P.S. The sound editing was excellent - every little scuff and scratch, match strike, and tool click was audible just the right way. No wonder that's another of the 8 Oscars for which it's nominated.

Please do yourself a favor and check out this trailer for Son of Rambow - a film that looks totally hilarious and gorgeously photographed:

http://cdn.channel.aol.com/aolexd_widgets/aolwidget_9.swf

I watched the film adaptation of Glengarry Glen Ross last night - I won't go in depth here, but the short version is excellent acting, sometimes interesting film making, and a pace that unfortunately doesn't keep up with the play. 4/5.

"a recent breakup results in a montage of memories and scattered events."

That's what film maker Isiah Flores has to say about his short film "Holding Hands" on his Vimeo page. See for yourself - it's breathtaking.


(via Gentle Graffiti)

All I have to say about Ocean's Thirteen is that it's not like haute cuisine. It's not going to change the way you look at and consume food. No, this film is more like that bacon cheeseburger from Carytown Burger and Fries. Familiar, and by now not too groundbreaking, but tasty none the less. And satisfying from start to finish.

4/5

I just discovered this excellent tribute to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining on the Late Night Underground website. DRAEB EKIRTS!!!

Before I headed upstairs to finish the aforementioned book, I watched the Dustin Hoffman rendition of Death of a Salesman. I'll not dwell on the details, but I did give it 4 out of 5. The acting was amazing, I already love the story (and the stuck very tightly to the script), and the casting was mostly excellent. My only dings are the production quality (it WAS made for television in the '80s, after all), and Stephen Lang's Happy Loman. Otherwise, it was a treat to see one of John Malkovich's earliest film performances, and he was outstanding as Biff Loman.

Preface: I love Netflix - their shipping is fast, their selection is great, and their recommendation system (especially since I've rated over 1100 movies) is excellent and marvelously prescient. Last year, they decided to become even more awesome by introducing online viewing for subscribers to their existing DVD service. Members could, in addition to their regular DVDs, view as many hours of streaming video as they paid in dollars every month. This means that I could watch about 15 hours of video every month based on my plan. Netflix topped itself, though, by announcing recently an end to that cap of online video watching time - a move seen to preempt the expected announcement by Apple to start providing digital movie rentals. Pretty nice, huh?

Preface over.

You see, it's not actually nice. Because I don't have a computer at work or home that can play this online Netflix video. Their current system requirements indicate that I need Windows XP or Vista to use the online viewing service. At work? Stuck on some vintage Windows 2000. At home? I chose an Apple computer that has OS X, so no dice for me.

So while I'm excited that Netflix is allowing for unlimited online movie watching (from the 6000+ available titles), I can't get to pumped because it does me no good. As soon as they code a freaking Mac tool for viewing, then I'll be jumping for joy.

Had I bothered to research director Guillermo del Toro after I watched the incredible Pan's Labyrinth I would no doubt have noticed that he also directed the comic book movie Hellboy. Since I didn't look up the director, it wasn't until just now after reluctantly checking out the trailer for the forthcoming Hellboy II that I even bothered to check out del Toro's resume. I was curious whether he'd directed the first installment if he was working on the sequel, and sure enough, he did.

Now I've not seen the first movie, but del Toro did the screenplay with consultation from the comic book's author. Since del Toro wrote and directed Pan's Labyrinth, which was incredible, I think my curiosity is overwhelming my resistance to what seemed like a cheesy film.

Have any of my handful of readers seen it? Is it worth it? At least on the merits of its film-making?

Before Christianity entered my household, my step-dad used to let my brothers and I watch pretty much any action movie he brought home. He's a huge fan of Schwarzenegger and Stallone, so fill in the blanks. My biological father never really cared what we watched when were were at his house, and he had HBO. This means I saw such gory glories as Commando, Predator, Terminator, and all three Rambo flicks before the age of 10. It also means that I'm all but desensitized to the over-done film violence in some modern cinema. While situationally disturbing, for instance, Se7en's graphic crime scenes did little to turn my stomach. So despite what I'd heard about the veritable river of crimson effluent in Tim Burton's adaptation of the Sondheim musical, it was with eager anticipation that I attended a showing of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Let me tell you, this flick is filled to overflowing with blood and violently realistic depictions of throat slitting (save for some over-dramatic squirting). But it's also filled with excellent music and fantastic acting. I'm already a fan of and quite familiar with Tim Burton's work, so I expected a heavy dose of black humor with the excellent direction, and I wasn't disappointed. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter made excellent leads (with surprisingly decent voices), and the supporting cast, especially Alan Rickman as the despicable Judge Tarpin, helped carry the weight quite well. The story was fairly simple, and great actors don't always make great singers, but this movie was a solid 4 out of 5 stars for me. I can't wait until Burton releases Alice and Wonderland...

You know, I really may just have to see this, lowered expectations and all...

In what's ultimately a very expensive commercial for some Cava, Martin Scorcese pays fine homage to Hitchcock with this short film:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zCD1R19bJs&rel=1&w=425&h=355]

(via Coudal, by way of Gruber, but this was just too good not to post on my own site)

Oh my gentle gentrification...The first direct-to-DVD Futurama movie is out: Bender's Big Score.

Now I have to see exactly what's meant by "Very Long Wait" from Netflix...

This video for a song by Noah and the Whale makes me think of Wes Anderson making a music video using a Super 8 camera. Maybe it's the use of all that Futura lettering? Anyway, it was actually directed by one James Copeman who seems to have made a few other delightful films.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRX5kH6IrkY&rel=1&w=425&h=355]
(via swissmiss)

Today I saw The Darjeeling Limited with my friend Dave, and I wasn't disappointed at all. Beyond the fact that the short, Hotel Chevalier, was actually included before the feature, the movie itself was outstanding on all fronts.

The acting was quite good with a great subtlety of expressions between the three lead roles. The direction, photography, and writing were what I expect from an Anderson film - far above the average auteur. I particularly resonated with the dysfunctionally fractured relationships between the brothers Whitman, and the touching moments accompanying their emotional healing.

Like most Wes Anderson works, I'd like to see this again that I might fully ingest the cinematic goodies contained therein, but it's safe for me to say this was 5 out of 5, and I'll surely purchase the film on DVD when it releases.

I just finished struggling through Paul Greengrass' United 93. This was Val's latest Netflix selection.

I give this film 3 out of 5, and not because it's horrible. The acting, in fact, is excellent, especially considering that the bulk of the actors were unknown. The film making was decent, reminding me instantly of Greengrass' more notable Bourne films (the last two). The problem was that I felt like a voyeur - spying on somebody else's tragedy. This movie exemplified the worst sort of dramatic irony; we know from the start that none of the real passengers survived, and the nearly two hours of build up to the inevitable tied my stomach in knots.

I'm not going to make any claims about the film appearing too soon after the September 11th attacks because I don't think it's possible to decide such a thing objectively. I think it was difficult for me on a personal level because of the connection to the memories of that day (seeing the footage of the second plane hitting the WTC in the context of the film was particularly hard). Perhaps, for that reason, it bothers me more than any other based-on-a-true-story narrative where people die. Whether this film was a pure tribute or a shameless act of profiteering matters little to me.

I just don't want to watch it again.

Daniel Day-Lewis has a certain menacing quality about him in certain films, and I get that same vibe when I watch the trailer for his forthcoming film, There Will Be Blood, the latest from writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson who brought us the incredible Punch Drunk Love.

There Will Be Blood releases the day after Christmas this year.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml2Ae2SIXac&rel=1&w=425&h=355]

I found another German animated short film in a very different style (yet still essentially stop-motion), and while it's certainly more light hearted than Balance, it's equally well done and enjoyable.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj3rT_yYCw8&rel=1&w=425&h=355]

Well now I've finally watched every feature-length Pixar film to date, and I've not been disappointed by a single one.

Tonight I watched A Bug's Life and enjoyed it from start to finish. This movie was definitely farther towards the "kid movie" end of the spectrum, but the story was endearing, the voice acting excellent, the sound editing incredible, and the humor delightful.

Easy 4 stars out of 5, and I can't wait for Wall-E to release next year.

I'm pretty sure I've seen this animated short film before (and perhaps some of you have, as well), but I'm certain I've never posted about it.

Wolfgang and Christoph Lauenstein's 1989 (and Oscar-winning) Balance paints a pretty bleak picture for those who's desires overcome the ability to work for the greater good.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJWT3p7uM6Y&rel=1&w=425&h=355]

Here's a brief movie review, both because I'm tired, and I have to pee quite badly :-)

4 stars out of 5 - The acting and story were both compelling, and David Fincher's capacity for keeping me on the edge of my seat for most of the 2.5 hours is brilliant. However, it WAS 2.5 hours, which I normally don't mind. Here, though, the length felt a bit excessively plodding at times. Still I was interested to see two very different men's lives descending deeper into their obsessive search for answers (one more so than the other...), and I'd recommend this film.

There were some fantastic shots as well, and I expect nothing less from the man who directed Fight Club and Seven. The long slow tracking shot from inside a car was a great early choice, with the Fourth of July Fireworks exploding in the background.

So tomorrow I'll drop the Netflix envelope in the mail slot when I work my Saturday away, and look forward to the arrival of a dramatically different film...

I just discovered an excellent set of pages on Wikipedia: the entire collection of "...in film" pages.

For example, you can view a page summarizing the awards, events, and theatrical releases (by month and day) for the year 2007. This has already helped me glean films that I missed in theaters which I can add to my Netflix list. Replete with the usual links to nearly everything, these pages are also great springboards into further nerd research about actors, directors, etc.

While the pages are weighted almost exclusively towards American and British releases, they're still capacious resources for me (and many other of my readers, I'm sure) since most of the cinema I watch is American or British.

There's a master list as well for jumping to any decade or year you choose.

It's pretty effortless to laugh at the martial artist and would-be actor Jean-Claude Van Damme, but I don't think I've laughed so much at him as when I read Grady Hendrix's homage in Slate.

You know, Dragon Wars: D-War already looks questionable (if not outright stupid), but it doesn't help when you're trailer looks like it was captured by a camcorder in a movie theater where the projector was out of focus.