Finally (finally) caught Blue Velvet at the Brattle the other night. FABULOUS. I loved it.
And hey! We're halfway through 2010 already! So I thought I'd go ahead and rank the films I've seen thus far...
Winter's Bone (hey! Guess what? This is playing RIGHT NOW. You can go see it RIGHT NOW.)
Red Riding: 1974
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Fish Tank (2009/2010 release, but I saw it in January, so I'm adding it here)
Red Riding: 1980
Perrier's Bounty
Cell 211
Red, White and Blue
The Killer Inside Me
The Crazies
All of the above are really fantastic and well worth checking out. Hmmm.... been sort of a violent year thus far. And no - I haven't seen Red Riding 1983 yet....
The following films you may enjoy, depending on your mood and preferences:
Kick Ass
Iron Man 2
I Love You Phillip Morris
Marwencol
Micmacs
Alice in Wonderland
Tiny Furniture
How to Train Your Dragon (in 2-D. I'm fairly certain this would be higher in 3-D, but I was on a plane.)
Anne Perry: Interiors
October Country
Shutter Island
Down Terrace
The Extra Man
Cracks
Non-2010 releases (because apparently I don't watch movies on netflix anymore):
Awesome:
Lars and the Real Girl
Hunger
Bronson
Blue Velvet
Worth checking out:
There Will Be Blood
Quantum of Solace
Hangover
Terminator 3
Ummmm - not so much:
Withnail & I
Rashomon
Nine
Most anticipated for the next 6 months? Ondine, I am Love, Red Riding 1983, The Girl who Played with Fire and Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Inception, Salt, Animal Kingdom, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, happythankyoumoreplease, Centurion, Never Let Me Go, Conviction (JUST GIVE SAM ROCKWELL AN OSCAR), Harry Potter, The Fighter. Some others, too, without release dates, which may get pushed to 2011.
And of course some that will depend on reviews, like Red.
Speaking of mid year reports, here is one from IndieWire.
Also - the next two months at the Brattle are fab. A Cabaret mini-rep, a bunch of noir, the restored Metropolis and a bunch of the best of the oughts - which includes a TON of films I really should have seen by now and haven't (Wendy & Lucy, The Lives of Others, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days.) PLUS!! A double feature of Zodiac and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - how fabulous is that?!
Showing posts with label Red Riding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Red Riding. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Some quick notes
Saw the 2010 animated shorts screening. A few thoughts:
The Lady and the Reaper: Easily my favorite. I don't think I can say much more without spoiling it, so scrollover if you really want to know: it's hilarious. What starts out as a touching moment of an old lady dying and getting ready to see her dead husband quickly becomes a madcap, slapstick, Chuck Jones-esque romp. Totally fantastic and has a great post-credits sequence involving Cerberus.
Granny O'Grimms Sleeping Beauty: Very funny. A revisionist version of Sleeping Beauty told by an Irish grandmother to a terrified little girl. Her lullaby at the end is particularly fantastic.
French Roast: Fairly straight forward. Enjoyable, but nothing special. A snooty businessman loses his wallet and can't pay for his espresso, so he just keeps ordering more to stall for time. Some nice characterizations.
A Matter of Loaf and Death: Wallace and Gromit are always enjoyable and the smart money is on them to win, but it's hardly their best outing. Doesn't stray too far from the tone of a Close Shave or the Wrong Trousers, both of which are better.
Logorama: I still don't know what to make of this one. An L.A. universe completely constructed out of corporate logos with Ronald McDonald going on a Joker-esque rampage. Violent, crude, and unsettling (all those logos?). It's very strange.
Partly Cloudy: Pixar. It starts out terribly (I believe I was grimacing at the screen). I couldn't figure out why Pixar had gone and made something so... cute. Luckily, it's to set up the introduction of our protagonists. Basically, clouds make babies and puppies and kittens for storks to deliver (so. many. anime. eyes.), but our cloud makes babies for the not-so-cute animals that his unlucky stork gets to deliver. Really great.
Runaway: Surrealist Canadian piece about a runaway train. Very weird, and could maybe have been tightened up a tiny bit, but otherwise is zany and fun.
The Kinematograph: Meh. About a guy so obsessed with inventing moving pictures that he neglects his wife. The scene of him working on his latest idea is beautiful, but the figures themselves looked as if they were carved out of wood, which was jarring.
Also - Saw the first two films in the Red Riding Trilogy, and oh my god are they brilliant. They're anchored by two astounding performances in Andrew Garfield and Paddy Constantine, the supporting casts are fantastic and the films themselves are dark, realistic and completely riveting. The first deals with a reporter investigating child murders in Yorkshire and the economic disparity in the region. The second is about a police detective examining the handling of the Yorkshire Ripper case, as he works through a previous case he worked in the area as well as his personal life. They are absolutely an incredible achievement and I highly recommend checking them out. I've heard the third isn't quite as good, but I can't wait to see the loose ends wrap up.
The Lady and the Reaper: Easily my favorite. I don't think I can say much more without spoiling it, so scrollover if you really want to know: it's hilarious. What starts out as a touching moment of an old lady dying and getting ready to see her dead husband quickly becomes a madcap, slapstick, Chuck Jones-esque romp. Totally fantastic and has a great post-credits sequence involving Cerberus.
Granny O'Grimms Sleeping Beauty: Very funny. A revisionist version of Sleeping Beauty told by an Irish grandmother to a terrified little girl. Her lullaby at the end is particularly fantastic.
French Roast: Fairly straight forward. Enjoyable, but nothing special. A snooty businessman loses his wallet and can't pay for his espresso, so he just keeps ordering more to stall for time. Some nice characterizations.
A Matter of Loaf and Death: Wallace and Gromit are always enjoyable and the smart money is on them to win, but it's hardly their best outing. Doesn't stray too far from the tone of a Close Shave or the Wrong Trousers, both of which are better.
Logorama: I still don't know what to make of this one. An L.A. universe completely constructed out of corporate logos with Ronald McDonald going on a Joker-esque rampage. Violent, crude, and unsettling (all those logos?). It's very strange.
Partly Cloudy: Pixar. It starts out terribly (I believe I was grimacing at the screen). I couldn't figure out why Pixar had gone and made something so... cute. Luckily, it's to set up the introduction of our protagonists. Basically, clouds make babies and puppies and kittens for storks to deliver (so. many. anime. eyes.), but our cloud makes babies for the not-so-cute animals that his unlucky stork gets to deliver. Really great.
Runaway: Surrealist Canadian piece about a runaway train. Very weird, and could maybe have been tightened up a tiny bit, but otherwise is zany and fun.
The Kinematograph: Meh. About a guy so obsessed with inventing moving pictures that he neglects his wife. The scene of him working on his latest idea is beautiful, but the figures themselves looked as if they were carved out of wood, which was jarring.
Also - Saw the first two films in the Red Riding Trilogy, and oh my god are they brilliant. They're anchored by two astounding performances in Andrew Garfield and Paddy Constantine, the supporting casts are fantastic and the films themselves are dark, realistic and completely riveting. The first deals with a reporter investigating child murders in Yorkshire and the economic disparity in the region. The second is about a police detective examining the handling of the Yorkshire Ripper case, as he works through a previous case he worked in the area as well as his personal life. They are absolutely an incredible achievement and I highly recommend checking them out. I've heard the third isn't quite as good, but I can't wait to see the loose ends wrap up.
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