Sunday, 20 April 2008
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
"We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information."
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful film. I might need a new job though.
Lolita (1997)
"I would still go mad with tenderness at the mere sight of her face."
I saw two films today! Working through the backlog, since I've little else to do which didn't involve the spending of monies I hadn't got (I'd already gone for a walk around Howden Marsh).
The film is not as good as the book, little is. It has some searing flaws of direction but also some inspired choices. And, with such descriptive material, it doesn't make a hash of the location - though I didn't quite believe New Hampshire could look so much like Gloucestershire.
Sunday, 13 April 2008
The Proposition (2005)
IMDB
"What are you going to do now?"
Nick Cave has a way with stories, and I especially like the Murder Ballads. This is a song writ large, made powerful by upscale. And it's fine. But as a storyteller, Cave works better as a narrator than scriptwriter - the dialogue works fine as the screen interpretation of a modern fable, but not as a work of cinema in its own right. Meaning you have to take many liberties watching it, lest you be sucked into the hyper-realism of it all. Because it has much more to offer than entertainment - it has a story to tell.
Just don't ask David Wenham to tell it, at least not in his English accent :)
"What are you going to do now?"
Nick Cave has a way with stories, and I especially like the Murder Ballads. This is a song writ large, made powerful by upscale. And it's fine. But as a storyteller, Cave works better as a narrator than scriptwriter - the dialogue works fine as the screen interpretation of a modern fable, but not as a work of cinema in its own right. Meaning you have to take many liberties watching it, lest you be sucked into the hyper-realism of it all. Because it has much more to offer than entertainment - it has a story to tell.
Just don't ask David Wenham to tell it, at least not in his English accent :)
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
IMDB
"If we don't raise $14 billion, and that's million with a "B," this war is over by the end of the month."
Definitely part two (and inferior) to Iwo Jima, don't think it sits so well on its' own. Nevertheless an education, Clint Eastwood taking Spielberg's ground-breaking ideas and toning down the violence and melodrama, each less incisive second-time around, and coming out with a half-decent film.
The other half is less decent. The editing is not too sharp and it misses a great, though difficult to execute idea to tie it in with Iwo Jima. Or maybe that would make it too long for many minds. Mine thought it too rushed, but that's me.
"If we don't raise $14 billion, and that's million with a "B," this war is over by the end of the month."
Definitely part two (and inferior) to Iwo Jima, don't think it sits so well on its' own. Nevertheless an education, Clint Eastwood taking Spielberg's ground-breaking ideas and toning down the violence and melodrama, each less incisive second-time around, and coming out with a half-decent film.
The other half is less decent. The editing is not too sharp and it misses a great, though difficult to execute idea to tie it in with Iwo Jima. Or maybe that would make it too long for many minds. Mine thought it too rushed, but that's me.
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