Love -Michael Haneke
*Editor’s note: I’m 95% sure this will be unbearably brilliant and paralysingly depressing. Or this may just be my general reaction to all of Haneke’s films…
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i think tom hiddleston is a fine actor,
but he really is the “poor man’s” michael fassbender.
via:jesuisperdu
*Editor’s note: I completely and absolutely agree. Also, and this might just be me, although I accept that the man is very decent actor, I just hate his face. It just really annoys me that I have to look at it for 90+ minutes.
Source: jesuisperdu
Ratcatcher
Lynne Ramsay, 1999
The generally atrocious and psychologically ludicrous We Need to Talk About Kevin didn’t inspire confidence for an auspicious directorial debut (Lindsay: “Should we have a shot of cherry brandy for every bit of clumsy symbolism?”). But, though low-key childhood coming-of-ager is far from untrammeled territory, its working class seventies Glasgow and twelve-year-old protagonist feel authentically vivid – begging the question even more keenly, why the actual fuck is Ramsay’s next project MOBY-DICK IN SPACE?
via: caramelsandkerosene
*Editor’s note: While I don’t agree with their view of We Need to Talk About Kevin (which I found to be a borderline inappropriate dark comedy with two fantastic leads. It was also incredible to just look at.), I’m also in the camp that’s scratching their heads concerning Ramsay’s Moby Dick in space…
Source: caramelsandkerosene
Really though…
It’s hard to try and keep myself in the dark, so as to keep my expectations from reaching unimaginable heights, when the marketing team behind Prometheus plans to keep releasing such incredible viral videos.
Carnage -Roman Polanski
I had issues with the premise that two couples, who clearly can’t stand each other, are seemingly trapped in this apartment. When Kate Winselt screams ‘Why are we still in this house?!’ in the trailer, I’d always think ‘Just leave!’ Having seen the film, Reza’s play makes it very clear, although I’m really not sure after which round of coffee or scotch, that they can’t just leave. The biggest critique is ultimately true: it feels like a play. What Polanski brings to it is a great cast and does a decent job with great material. It’s also very, very funny and feels true.
One last thing: I’m not sure what the rest of the year will bring, but right now, the way Jodie Foster says ‘Africaaah’ is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in film for 2012.
The Artist- Michel Hazanavicius
*Editor’s note: Spolier Alert!
It’s easy to see why everyone is losing their collective shit over The Artist. Unfortunately, the difficultly comes with trying to get past the great chemistry between its leads, Dujardin’s charm and the truly joyous dance numbers that have us fooled the that it’s anything more than the concept of a silent film in 2011/2012 that we’re all so excited about. One can only smile at a few inside jokes and clever film titles within the film before it loses its momentum and starts to drag.
That’s not to say that there aren’t great or fresh things either; the moment where we look up at the screen and there’s a silent sea of clapping, exultant movie-goers or where that cup finally clinks are among two of the most memorable moments of cinema 2011.
Ultimately, it does manage to pick itself up, throws in a cute dog for good measure and leaves us smiling when Dujardin finally speaks. It’s just that when the glow fades away, it all feels a little, well, fake and hollow. You can’t shake the feeling that you’d probably be better off watching all the older (and greater) films that were it’s influences.
I do finally understand why most of Tumblr keeps saying they want to marry Dujardin’s teeth, though.
Like Crazy- Drake Doremus
*Editor’s note: It’s incredibly easy to be jaded and hate this for everything that it is. You can look past the very solid performances, find flaws in the logic of the characters, deride the hipster soundtrack and roll your eyes when they frolic on the beach as the sun set, but where’s the fun in that? As anyone whose been in a serious relationship can attest, there is no logic in love, the soundtrack is pretty great and to ignore Felicity Jones’ wonderful performance is stupid. There’s a lot to snicker at in Droemus’ film, but why would you want to do that?
Beautiful cover art by Mike Mignola commissioned for the Criterion Collection’s release of Guillermo del Toro’s truly shitty Cronos.
*Editor’s note: Honestly, it’s a fucking awful film.
Truth
do you ever watch a movie so bad you worry the characters and writing are going to get into your head and really mess with your personality? like some kind of bad brain aftertaste? i don’t know what’s with this one, Tiny Furniture, but man it’s just not going anywhere and every character is the worst.
via: wellalright
*Editor’s note: This is why I’m probably never going to watch this one…
Source: wellalright
Young Adult- Jason Reitman
*Editor’s note: I’m not entirely sure how I ended up watching Young Adult… I can’t stand Jason Reitman and although I’ve enjoyed all his films, they have all been forgotten. A few characters remain here and there, but for the most part, I can’t tell you what I think about them now because I just don’t. The problem is that I know I did leave them all having felt something. This is why Young Adult has proven to be especially unique; it might the first Reitman film to have genuinely unsettled me. Diablo Cody detractors do make a fair point most of the time, but Mavis Gary stands alone in the rogues’ gallery of characters she has created. Charlize Theron initially glares her way throughout the beginning of the film and it’s only later that you realize she has fucking lost it. She possibly never had it at all really. I don’t how or if I’ll remember Young Adult in a month, but I do know that right now, I feel particularly fragile after spending 90 minutes in Mercury, Minnesota with Mavis Gary.
![Scott takes up with an Italian girl in the last third of [My Own Private] Idaho, and the abandoned Mike is last seen in a narcoleptic blackout on a long stretch of highway. After two truckers steal his shoes, the camera lifts upward and we see a cab pull up to Mike’s prostrate body. A youngish man gets out to put Mike in the cab, which then drives off. I’d always hoped as a teenager that this man was Scott, but on the Criterion DVD, it’s revealed that the man was supposed to be Mike’s brother (James Russo), who might also be his father. Van Sant, however, decided to leave the man’s identity ambiguous. In a conversation with Todd Haynes on the DVD, Van Sant even wonders if this mystery man might be a farmer who could take Mike in and let him rest. Maybe, he says, Mike will even find a boy to love on this farm. To which I say, Mary, please.
Van Sant’s pipe dream for Mike sounds about as likely as the story Tennessee Williams told Claire Bloom when she asked him what happens to Blanche after she’s led away to the nuthouse at the end of A Streetcar Named Desire. Williams told Bloom that Blanche would charm the asylum doctors and eventually be released to open a charming boutique in the French Quarter with her sister Stella. That might have been the sentimentality of too much liquor talking, but so many gay men are romantic dreamers, so eager to please, so tempted by self-pity, so ready to be cradled after a confession of love, so hungry for unlikely happy endings. I’m sorry, Gus, but Mike looks to me like he’s on the last rung down to the graveyard, where he will join the actor who played him so passionately along with all the other unrealistic hopes that outsiders try to shelter in their work because they’ve been blown to bits in real life. And if you say, “To hell with real life,” I’m afraid that real life will eventually say, “To hell with you,” in this dark march toward whatever it is we’re approaching.
via Dan Callahan](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrsr1gltla1qbsghzo1_1280.jpg)
Scott takes up with an Italian girl in the last third of [My Own Private] Idaho, and the abandoned Mike is last seen in a narcoleptic blackout on a long stretch of highway. After two truckers steal his shoes, the camera lifts upward and we see a cab pull up to Mike’s prostrate body. A youngish man gets out to put Mike in the cab, which then drives off. I’d always hoped as a teenager that this man was Scott, but on the Criterion DVD, it’s revealed that the man was supposed to be Mike’s brother (James Russo), who might also be his father. Van Sant, however, decided to leave the man’s identity ambiguous. In a conversation with Todd Haynes on the DVD, Van Sant even wonders if this mystery man might be a farmer who could take Mike in and let him rest. Maybe, he says, Mike will even find a boy to love on this farm. To which I say, Mary, please. Van Sant’s pipe dream for Mike sounds about as likely as the story Tennessee Williams told Claire Bloom when she asked him what happens to Blanche after she’s led away to the nuthouse at the end of A Streetcar Named Desire. Williams told Bloom that Blanche would charm the asylum doctors and eventually be released to open a charming boutique in the French Quarter with her sister Stella. That might have been the sentimentality of too much liquor talking, but so many gay men are romantic dreamers, so eager to please, so tempted by self-pity, so ready to be cradled after a confession of love, so hungry for unlikely happy endings. I’m sorry, Gus, but Mike looks to me like he’s on the last rung down to the graveyard, where he will join the actor who played him so passionately along with all the other unrealistic hopes that outsiders try to shelter in their work because they’ve been blown to bits in real life. And if you say, “To hell with real life,” I’m afraid that real life will eventually say, “To hell with you,” in this dark march toward whatever it is we’re approaching. via Dan Callahan
Battle Royale- Kinji Fukasaku
A few years ago, I went through a phase where I was obsessed with Japanese film. Because I gravitated toward anything remotely shocking, strange or obscure, Battle Royale became that one film I had to watch. The fact that it was made out to be notoriously difficult to track down, was ‘banned’ (it wasn’t) and featured such a taboo subject (high school kids forced to kill each other!! How does a film like this get made?!) made it seem almost mythological. While few things live up to this level of hype, this film managed to. While I still love this film on its own merit, if I’m honest, it’s probably more to do with the sense of accomplishment I felt at being able to find it when I did. With such a large cast, it’s inevitable that most of the kids are just cannon fodder and its ending continues to frustrate me. Regardless, the fact that something like the Hunger Games exists annoys me. While I know nothing about it besides it being set in a dystopian future where kids are made to kill each other, you can immediately see why I already feel know it’s going to be a pussy American version of Battle Royale. Unless Jennifer Lawrence takes to sleeping with the other competitors and then stabbing them to death them to get ahead, I think we’re all better just sticking with this.
Kill Bill- Quentin Tarantino
*When the fuck is the full, uncut, extended, overpriced, special edition boxset of this going to be released? Really, Quentin, give the Thai hookers and cocaine a break and get on this!
Film is a drug. It is a shelter when you cannot deal with reality.
