The Cove is a movie that has been getting a lot of critical acclaim in all the various film critic circles. This documentary may be in contention of winning the Oscar this year. I heard some blurbs about what the central story is but I want to be surprised about what I saw. I didn’t read any review, see the trailer or anything. I went into the documentary fresh, but the result is a heart-wrenching that makes you want to take immediate action.
Documentarian Louie Psihoyos wants the take the world on a journey that few have thread. He is the co-founder of the Oceanic Preservation Society with Jim Clark that funded this film. They are concerned about the state of the oceans and how they are deteriorating.
Louie is fascinated by Ric O’Barry, an outspoken dolphin advocate from the Earth Island Institute that is hated among his peers against speaking about a ritual in Japan that locals have known for centuries which is considered inhumane by most. There is a place where over 23,000 dolphins are brought in be slaughtered for food. Even though, most experts stress that dolphin meat contains high levels of mercury, the practice was still being done. Nobody in other cities in Japan know about the killings talking place in Taiji. They are horrified to hear the news.
Ric wants to expose the dolphin killing grounds to the world in order for the operation to be shut down. Psihoyos wanted to film the documentary through legal channels, but he got resistance from local officials.
His crews tactics are to wear masks all times to keep from being detected by the constant police presence around the area, to venture at night with hydrophones, a blimp shaped as dolphin, night vision and thermal cameras to where the dolphins are kept in Taiji, Japan. Louis had the ingenious idea of someone’s rigging the rocks with hi-def cameras so they could record what’s going on without getting arrested.
This whole crusade started with O’Barry time as a dolphin trainer on classic show, Flipper. Spending time with the dolphins made him realize that they should not be in captivity, trained as circus performers. They are intelligent creatures that deserve to in the open ocean. Also with the suicide of “Flipper” aka Kathy in his arms turned his life around. He mad eit his life’s mission to correct what he has done and save the dolphins.
O’Barry relays the systematic process of wrangling up the dolphins, by creating loud sounds to stress them out, drive them towards the shore, and seal them there. The dolphins are picked out females for seaquariums or some for “swim with dolphins” programs around the world. The one left are taken to the secret cove to be slaughtered out of the public eye.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) that doesn’t protect dolphins or porpoises banned whaling in 1986 except for a small loophole for killing for scientific purposes. People jumped on that bandwagon.
You might think that this is environmentalist propaganda, but you must watch it to feel the dolphins’ pain. Hearing the cries as they are taken in the cove, seeing the blue water turn red, and your heart is breaking when the cries suddenly go silent, it does something to you.
Judgment: Run, don’t walk to this movie. A must see.
You’re a world class liar, darling. Go out there and lie for Italy. Lie for Italia.
– Liliane La Fleur
Based on the Broadway musical, Nine was taken from Federico Fellini’s film 8 1/2. Director Rob Marshall tries to implement the same tactic of having the musical numbers be a part of a characters imagination translated. It makes you wish that he did this movie first then his previous Oscar winning effort, Chicago.
A down in the dumps Italian director, Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) is reeling that his last two movies have flopped. He is scrambling to write a script for his next movie, “Italia” before productions begins in ten days. Guido’s producing partner, Dante (Ricky Tognazzi) is urging Guido to get out of his funk and put pen to paper.
The Italian press grills Guido to get some secrets about the movie that doesn’t have a script. Guido is running himself so ragged that retreats into his memories and fantasies to find some inspiration for the movie. Most of the musical numbers are sung on the half-constructed set on Cinecitta sound stage. Guido tries to rely on the women he had met in his life to get a creative spark.
He seeks the advice of his long-time costume designer and confidant Liliane “Lilli” La Fleur (Judi Dench) to find out what to do about the movie. She could only give him encouraging words to get the creative juices flowing.
Guido tries to get away from the pressures of movie by going to the Bellavista Hotel away from Rome. He calls his long-suffering wife, Luisa (Marion Cotillard) to try to join him at the hotel, but he reconsiders the request. He decides to calls his mistress, Carla (Penélope Cruz) instead. They rekindle their affair as Guido’s muse for his earlier movies, Claudia (Nicole Kidman) demands to see a script before shooting a single frame.
Guido is worked up from stress about the movie that he makes himself sick. He retreats more into his past to try to find a single fragment of something that could be the basis of his movie, including schmoozing with a Vogue writer, Stephanie (Kate Hudson), having conversations with his dead Mamma (Sophia Loren), and a local hooker, Saraghina (Fergie) to teach him about love.
Most of the musical numbers were flat, except for “Cinema Italiano”, “Be Italian” and Marion’s songs, “My Husband Makes Movies” and “Take It All.” She was the only person in the movie that I felt any emotion towards me. Penelope is getting all the attention, but I think that if the Academy vote Marion in supporting I would be happy with that result.
Judgment: It’s not Chicago. See this movie for Marion’s performance.
Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world and in here is the dream.
– Jake Sully
Avatar has been swimming around the mind of James Cameron for almost twenty years. I read the blurbs about two thirds of this movie will be completely computer generated and it will be in 3D. When I saw the trailers for this movie, I was not impressed. It was not my must-see. I went into this movie with low expectations. By the final shot of movie, I was glad that spent the past two and half hours in Pandora.
Taking place in 2154, a paraplegic ex-Marine, Cpl. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is asked to take the place of his twin brother, Tom who was recently murdered to a mission on the alien planet of Pandora. It has colonized by humans who want to gain access to a precious metal called Unobtanium that could help solve their energy crisis. The mission is headed by the power hungry Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribsi).
There is one major problem that stand in their way, the native inhabitants of the planet called the Na’vi. They are ten-foot blue creatures that are very resourceful and would kill anymore that threaten their land.
Jake is taken to Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) who is heading up the Avatar program, which infuses human DNA wit that of the Na’vi. She doesn’t think that a guy with no training should meld his mind into the avatar, but she has no choice. Jake will be her security escort when the team explores the vast forests of the planet.
When Jake wakes up in the avatar, he cannot believe that he has the power of walk again. He is like a kid in a candy store. On a routine scouting mission, Jake is confronted by ferocious Pandorian animals that force him way from the group. Rescue efforts by team with the help of pilot, Trudy Chacon (Michelle Rodgriguez) had to be suspended until the next morning.
Alone in the now fluorescent wonderland, Jake has to fend for himself against potential predators. A young Na’vi girl, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) helps Jake fend off some predators when Neytiri’s tribe headed by her brother, Tsu’tey (Laz Alonzo) confronts the duo. Jake is taken to the village where Neytiri’s parents, Eytukan and Moat (Wes Studi, CCH Pounder) want to learn more about the outsider. With a single ritual by Moat, Jake has gained a way into the Na’vi inner circle.
Taking advantage of the opportunity is hotshot Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) who wants Jake to infiltrated the way of life of the Na’vi; learn their language, customs and other rituals in order to gain access the rich Unobtanium deposit that is in the Na’vi homeland. The colonel promises if he could get the Na’vi to leave the land after three months, then Jake could get a new pair of working legs.
As Jake begins the lessons with Neytiri appointed by her mother to do, he realizes that he is not sure what side to fight for, the humans or the Na’vi.
There have been comparisons of this movie to Dances with Wolves. I can see that, but the movie is much more than that. The movie is manifest destiny and retelling the history of any indigenous people that have massacred by another race, because they are different from them only from the natives perspective. The Native Americans, the Aborigines, the Incas, the Mayans, the Aztecs have been affected by “civilizing the savages”. Maybe the people doing the killing are the true savages. I also got the feeling that this movie could be a mirror for the War on Terror.
The computer generated shot were seamless and I forgot that I looking a computer generated blue alien for a while. The environments were gorgeous to behold. The depth and scope were breathtaking, but I wonder will the movie lose its impact if it comes out on DVD. It’s not going to be the same experience seeing the movie in 2D, instead of 3D.
The movie is not perfect. I saw the movie in the true fashion that he wanted, in 3D. I felt that some of the effects were made a little sloppy at times when you can clearly see something that was put in the foreground in the real life shot. There were some pacing problems that I had with last third of the movie. The plot of the movie is not unique. The characters are not well-developed, but Neytiri was the best character in the whole movie. I was bothered about some parts in the ending, which I will discuss in the spoiler section.
Judgment: This is movie event of the year. This is a must-see in 3D.
Stephen Jay Schneider chose this movie as one of the “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.” He compiled a massive list from the classic to the obscure for his anthology. The most worthy movies are chosen to be on this list. Every year, there is a revision to include the most essential movies to be on the minds of film buffs everywhere.
Marnie is a Hitchcock film that I never heard of before the 1001 Movie Club chose it as one of the films to watch. I didn’t know what the movie was about going into it. I went in completely blind. The result is that there is some intrigue in this mess of a movie.
Based on the novel by Winston Graham, the movie tells the story of a seasoned con artist by the name of Marnie (Tippi Hedren) who pilfered over nine thousand dollars from her former boss, Mr. Strutt (Martin Gabel) and is on the lam. When Strutt has the police over at his office, a client Mark Rutland (Sean Connery) overhears about the theft.
After the robbery, Marnie changes her identity like a chameleon with fake Social Security cards or changing her hair color from black to blond. She visits her emotionally distant mother, Bernice (Louise Latham) and showers her with extravagant gifts. She is jealous of a neighborhood girl, Jessie Cotton (Kimberly Beck) taking all of her mother’s attention. The mother is mindful that they shouldn’t have men in their lives, be free. Marnie has frequent nightmares about her childhood with her mother whenever red is shown or a thunderstorm. This happens frequently throughout the movie.
Marnie goes back out for her next con becoming another character looking for payroll clerk jobs to get close to the money to steal it. She is called in for an interview with the company that Mark owns. The trouble is that the two already met at Mr. Strutt’s company, but that was when she was raven-haired. Mark thinks that Marnie is familiar somehow, but he is not sure. He wants Mr. Warden to hire her instead of a more qualified person for the job
As Marnie starts her job, she learns more about the idiosyncrasies of the company like Mr. Ward (S. John Launer) never remembering the combination to the safe in his office and he has to rely on Mark and Ward’s secretary, Ms. Clabon (Mariette Hartley) to help him.
When Mr. Rutland wants her to work overtime, he discovers when a thunderstorm is happening. She is vulnerable. He kisses her and a relationship is blossoming, but remnants of her past of slowly eroding their relationship.
The Hitchcockian staples are present with the quick pan in and out, the weird close-ups on the characters faces, the obviously fake backdrops. There were some interesting moments in this film about the origins of Marnie’s panic attacks, her descent into madness towards the end of the movie. The plot itself was uneven. When a great moment was taking place, it is ruined by red on the screen or Tippi Hedren shrilling all over the screen.
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
1001 Movie Club Approved
Judgment: The movie is pure melodrama disguised as a Hitchcock movie.
In the end – just like I said – I left everything, and everyone. But no one, no one has ever left me.
– Dito
I heard about Dito Montiel’s A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints from the /Filmcast a couple of months ago. I tried to find this movie. I was lucky that it was playing on IFC last night. The hosts of the podcast were praising the movie about the gritty coming-of-age story. After watching the movie, I felt that something missing in the plot.
The movie dramatizes Dito Montiel’s youth in the summer of 1986 where he left home for years. It wasn’t her publishes his memoir of the same name in 2005 that he gets a phone call from his mother, Flori (Dianne Weist) telling Dito played by Robert Downey, Jr that his father, Monty (Chazz Palminteri) has falling ill. Monty refuses to go to hospital. Flori asks Dito to come back and take care of him.
The storyline swaps from 2005 back to 1986 where young Dito (Shia LaBeouf) is hanging out with his troublemaker friends, the roughneck Antonio (Channing Tatum), Antonio’s odd brother, Giuseppe (Adam Scarimbolo) and pre-pubescent Nerf (Peter Tambakis). It is an unspoken tradition that the Italians do not get along with the Puerto Ricans. There is a graffiti artist named “The Reaper” (Michael Rivera) that is tagging the neighborhood. The boys want to get to the bottom of who is defacing their neighborhood.
A new kid from Scotland, Mike O’Shea (Martin Compston) befriends Dito, but their budding friendship threatens to their guys apart.
Meanwhile, older Dito comes back to Astoria after twenty years to find that things have changed. Friends moved away, some have died; some are stuck there like Nerf (Scott Nichael Campbell) or Dito’s old girlfriend, Laurie (Rosario Dawson). Dito is reluctant to go back to his family’s house after such a long absence. He wonders if it was a mistake to come back at all.
The effective parts of the movie were at the end of the movie when Laurie confronts Dito about fulfilling his obligations to his father, and the pivotal point that Dito leaves Astoria were excellent. The rest of the movie was choppy with its shoddy editing. Parts of story were not explained. Was Giuseppe autistic? Why does Antonio’s dad beat him, not Giuseppe?
Judgment: A good movie is in here somewhere. You have to dig through a lot of muck to get to it.
Don’t you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we’re left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes and I live here.
– Alvy Singer
I was psyched Woody Allen’s movie, Annie Hall was coming IFC that I set a reminder to watch it. Being familiar with Allen’s movies, I would have expected some random dialogue and meandering situations. That’s correct for the most part, but this film is so much more. This #132 Movie of All-Time on IMDb was nominated for five Oscars and it won four including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Original Screenplay.
This movie is about a pessimistic comic, Alvy Singer (Allen) recounting the relationship he had between himself and an aspiring singer, Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). Alvy’s problem is that his paranoid man that has delusions of grandeur. He treats the people around him like shit, because he is the only sane person, even though he has been seeing an analyst for most of his life.
Alvy and Annie meet when Alvy’s actor friend from Hollywood, Rob (Tony Roberts) introduces them during a spirited match of tennis. They bond over their eccentricities, the mundane of life and seeing analysts.
Whenever there is a conflict with Annie or their families, Alvy turns to the camera to offer his commentary about the situations. He deconstructs every flaw about a person and blows it out of proposition.
As they go deeper into their relationship, Annie feels that Alvy tries to mold her into something that she is not like forcing adult education courses upon her, taking her to an obscure foreign language movie or the condescending tone in his voice whenever they are waxing philosophic.
The relationship starts to wane that they are not having sex. They are going into a funk and they have to decide if they should stay together or break apart.
This movie was charming from start to finish. I love it when Alvy and Annie were having drinks on the roof of her building. They pontificate about some random topic and a bunch of subtitles pop showing the audience what they are really thinking. It reminded me of a particular scene in (500) Days of Summer.
The only flaw about the movie was the sequences in Los Angeles. It rang false to me. It was like a stereotypical take on Los Angeles that you have seen repeatedly. The hippies eating alfalfa spouts and drinking wheat grass or whatever.
Stephen Jay Schneider chose this movie as one of the “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.” He compiled a massive list from the classic to the obscure for his anthology. The most worthy movies are chosen to be on this list. Every year, there is a revision to include the most essential movies to be on the minds of film buffs everywhere.
I have caught bits and pieces of It’s A Wonderful Life for years now. Never had the urge to watch it, because what I have seen seemed like melodramatic drivel. Since it is Christmastime and that the movie has been chosen as one of the 1001 Movie Club selections for this month, I had to watch it unfortunately.
This Frank Capra classic tells the tale of George Bailey (James Stewart), a man that has fallen on hard times and contemplates committing suicide during the Christmas holiday. The whole town of Bedford Falls prays for the well-being of this troubled soul. Hearing the numerous prayer requests, a group of angels disguised as stars sends one of their own, Clarence to Earth to see the error in his decision. If Clarence successfully convinces George from not killing himself, then he could receive his long awaited wings.
As a part of Clarence’s crash course training, he learns about some fortunate and unfortunate moments in George’s life that led him on the path of self-destruction that he is on. The moment that he little brother, Henry almost drowned when he was twelve. He lost hearing in one of his ears, because of an infection.
George meeting his future wife Mary (Donna Reed) at a dance social at the same night his father, Peter suffers a stroke and dies. An evil banker, Henry Potter wants to take over the struggling family owned bank. George’s life screeches to a halt when his dreams of being an architect are dashed to take over the business. Blah, blah, blah.
I’m sorry. I tried to give this movie a fair shot, but I was fucking bored with it. With every sentimental piece of excrement that Hollywood churns out, you know that everything works out in the end. Whatever. You might call me a Scrooge. I don’t give a flying fuck. I hated this damn movie. Sorry, next.
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
1001 Movie Club Approved
Judgment: A Christmas classic that I don’t get why people like it.
When Two Lovers was set to come out earlier this year, the antics Grizzly Addams-looking leading man Joaquin Phoenix forced me away from this movie. I still can’t get over that. He looked like a bagman. I recently noticed listening to Filmspotting that Matt Singer from IFC said that this movie was his number one film of 2009. I thought it might be time to catch up with it.
The much more clean-shaven Phoenix plays Leonard, a bipolar dry cleaner living with his parents (Moni Moshonov, Isabella Rossellini), who is reeling from the break up with his fiancée (Anne Joyce). He decided to jump into the ocean to kill himself. Now he is about to lost consciousness, he wants to live. When he arrives home, his parents are preparing to have a potential buyer for their fledgling business over for dinner.
The potential buyer Michael Cohen (Bob Ari) brings his family, including his grown daughter Sandra (Vinessa Shaw). During dinner the conversation turns to Leonard’s love of black and white photography, Michael has an idea to hire Leonard as the photographer at his son’s bar mitzvah. His parents nudge a meet cute between Leonard and Sandra, but when the two are in Leonard’s room, Sandra confesses that wanted to meet him herself. They bond over their love of movies and his black and white photographs.
Out on a courier run for his father, Leonard overhears fighting in the hallway of his building. He befriends Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow). Leonard invites Michelle in the apartment where they playful about Michelle could Leonard from her apartment.
The next time that the pair meets is at a subway where he was supposed to have a lunch date with Sandra. Leonard becomes infatuated with her. This free-spirited party girl intrigues the introverted man-child that he has undeniable connection with, except that she is in a toxic relationship with a married man Mr. Blatt (Elias Koteas) that is paying for her apartment. He is attracted to her unattainable nature.
Spending time between Michelle and Sandra, Leonard is taken on a roller coaster of emotions. When he meets Michelle’s married lover, he asks Leonard to monitor Michelle to keep her from using drugs. Sandra feels rejected when Leonard sends his free time pining away for Michelle that he goes for her because she is convenient.
The mood is very melancholy yet beautiful at the same time. You believe the chemistry between Leonard and Michelle or Leonard and Sandra. It radiates off the screen. This is a solid work from James Gray.
Judgment: A wonderful exploration of a lonely man trying to find a human connection.
The second teaser for Christopher Nolan’s psychological thriller, “Inception” is released. There was a French version of the teaser that I purposely stayed away from. This teaser has me interested to see what the final product. It reminds me of Nolan’s “Memento” and Gondry’s “Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind”.
It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy and Marion Cotillard. It set for released summer 2010. Watch out for it.
Stephen Jay Schneider chose this movie as one of the “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.” He compiled a massive list from the classic to the obscure for his anthology. The most worthy movies are chosen to be on this list. Every year, there is a revision to include the most essential movies to be on the minds of film buffs everywhere.
I was disheartened that Magnolia was chosen as one of the movies that the 1001 Movie Club has to review. I have seen this movie after it made a big splash at the Oscars in 2000. When I saw the film, I did not have the best things to say about the movie. I have chosen not to see the movie again; I am basing this review on memory.
Director Paul Thomas Anderson interweaves almost a dozen tiny stories that seems to not to mesh that somehow thinly interconnects. The narrator Ricky Jay shows the random ironic coincidences of life. One story revolves around a hapless police officer, Jim Kurning (John C. Reilly) is called to the scene of a dead body being discovered in the closet of a woman, Marcie (Cleo King). As the night progresses, other officers that arrive to the scene are ignoring his assessments about what happens.
The anchor of the story is about a television producer, Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) on his deathbed. He is succumbing to late stage cancer, and is cared for by his male nurse, Phil (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Earl asks Phil to find his estranged son, Frank, because his much younger wife, Linda (Julianne Moore) is trying to get enough morphine to euthanize him.
Mackey (Tom Cruise) is self-help “guru” with a foul mouth that teaches man about manipulating women into having sex with them. His plan, “Seduce and Destroy” have men going in droves to listen to his polemics about gullible and dealing with the power of cock. After his seminar, a sly reporter, Gwenovier (April Grace) interviews Mackey about his bullshit rhetoric until she fins a chink in his armor.
A former game show wiz kid, Donnie Smith (William H. Macy) tries to get his life back into order to his former glory. The game show storyline also incorporates a former game show host of “What Do Kids Know?” Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall) that recently finds out that he has cancer. He seeks out to reconnect with his cokehead daughter, Claudia (Melora Walters) to tell her. In addition, there is a stage father, Rick (Michael Bowen) that pushes his son, Stanley (Jeremy Blackman) to win the prize money to help out with his acting career.
I thought that the stories were somewhat interesting, but not so much that I could be invested in most of them. The only part of the movie that marginally liked was the Earl Partridge storyline. I thought that it was very poignant. The ending was huge WTF for me. Really? Really! Tom Cruise got the most acclaim for this movie, because he was a leading man taking a supporting role in an ensemble movie. His personal segment was not that intriguing, but when he shows up in another one. That was great.
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
1001 Movie Club Approved
Judgment: Why do I feel like a Crash all over again?
