NWR originals -Refn 's comeback ? more like Refn's goodbye...or His Private Hell instead of Her Private Hell !
10 years ago he divided the cinema world last time with The Neon Demon, then he antagonised execs with his streaming fares, Copenhagen Cowboy for Netflix, which of course never got renewed..
Now he was in Cannes (out of competition with the worst reviews of his career) and is in Romanian theaters (very Limited, brave Bad Unicorn release), even with his new UFO, Her Private Hell.
Now, I wished I liked this, but no... fell asleep almost.
Well the film is a dream, a dream within a dream, with dream logic and nightmares. It's supposedly concieved after Refn had a clinical death of 25 minutes in 2023...
Mist, The Letherman, Metropolis and crystals, models who can't act, yakuza and choreographed empty fights, disco inferno, lesbianism, incest. A Refn original ;)
mixing giallo, B Sf & japanese action/yakuza films (Seijun Suzuki?).
Again the Hans Christian Andersen trauma, the girl with the matches...
visuals of Barbarella, Diabolik and Flash Gordon ? Terrore nello spazio / aka Planet of the Vampires ?Tron meets Suspiria and other Argento fares (defenestration) ? Technicolor by Bava ?
He's trying Lynch's tricks, from Lost Highway and Mullholand Drive, but he's getting zilch.
acting level is subzero...Sophie Thatcher, Charles Melton, gorgeously photographed but used as cardboard models.
the letragic pacing goes lethal, the film comes alive on the neon visuals only when there's music.
So, the only redeeeming quality of the film is the score by Pino Donnagio, an eerie, elegiac beautiful (Herrmannesque, there is some Vertigo in it) score that stands out and it's one of his best, together with the ones for De Palma. It would be ironic if Donaggio reworked some of his rejected score for De Palma's Snake Eyes (1999).
The disco synth pop is not by Donnagio but by Refn's collaborator Julian Winding (Dolce mio).
Casualties of War (1989) is one of the best war (anti-war) films and still does not have the recognition it deserves. I wrote the dvd review in 2006, twenty years ago, updated it now and in English...
1966. An incident in Vietnam... the story of a repeated rape and a murder that could have been prevented, but which no one even wishes to punish—only to ignore. Casualties of War, a war regarded in America as synonymous with the loss of innocence, in which the heroes of the two World Wars became the villains and the executioners.
1987. After his first incredible mainstream success with The Untouchables, Brian De Palma, propelled onto the list of directors most coveted by the studios, could make whatever film he wanted. And he chose a controversial, repugnant, revolting subject, one that was later vehemently denied by almost everyone, especially Vietnam veterans. A real, infamous case that he had dreamed of bringing to the screen since 1969, when he saw at the Berlin Film Festival a film on the same subject, inspired by Daniel Lang's New York Times article. At the same time, one of his favourite films is The Bridge on the River Kwai, and De Palma decides to become David Lean for a little while (hence the key sequence on the bridge).
Filmed in Thailand under extremely harsh conditions, with an A-list cast of young actors on the rise (Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, John Leguizamo, John C. Reilly), Casualties of War was released in 1989, only to be torn apart by critics, who found it exploitative and visceral, and almost completely ignored by audiences who had grown weary of Vietnam. Constructed as one vast flashback (and nightmare at the same time), it contains De Palma's overwhelming visual style and his recurring obsessions: guilt, the betrayal of comradeship, impossible love, impotence, passive voyeurism. But this time, instead of Brian De Palma's much-discussed Hitchcockian thriller fantasies, the events unfolding on screen are based on a true story. The viewer becomes complicit in the carnage, and the unsettling feeling of guilt gradually, methodically, almost paroxysmally takes hold. Ennio Morricone's score (following his previous collaboration on The Untouchables), punctuated by Gheorghe Zamfir's pan flute, is the film's principal source of emotion—elegiac, mournful, evocative of ghosts from the past and shattered dreams.
2006. The film America could not bear to watch, one of the most anti-war films ever made, is today being reassessed and regarded as equal to, or even greater than, its predecessors: The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket. And the victim of the war behind the screen continued to develop his recurring themes, concealed within his much-discussed Hitchcockian thriller fantasies, without ever again disturbing his fellow citizens' civic conscience with stories based on real events.
Extra: the extended edition (also the first one to reach Romania) includes six additional minutes of footage (material previously available only as deleted scenes—Eriksson's interrogation, an additional scene with Dale Dye, and an unexpected Greg Henry cameo), an emotional interview with Michael J. Fox, and a half-hour Making Of in which De Palma is far warmer and more talkative than usual—and if you're wondering why, it simply means you haven't seen the film.
Victime de război / Casualties of War (1989) e unul din cele mai bine filme de război (anti-război), rămas pînă azi nedescoperit de publicul larg. Nicio nominalizare la Oscar, eșe cde public și considerat anti-american (!) la vreame premierei. Ăn 2006 am scris o cronică la apariția Dvd ului pe piața românească. 20 de ani ami tîrziu o veți aici. Cine nu l-a văzut, să îl vadă, și cine l-a văzut să îl re-vadă !
Un incident în Vietnam... povestea unui viol repetat și al unei crime care putea fi împiedicată, dar care nici măcar nu se dorește a fi pedepsită, ci doar ignorată. Pierderi în vreme de război, un război considerat în America sinonimul pierderii inocenței, în care eroii din cele două războaie mondiale au devenit personajul negativ și torționar.
După primul său incredibil succes mainstream cu Incoruptibilii, Brian De Palma, propulsat pe lista de regizori preferați de studiouri, putea să facă ce film vroia. Și a ales un subiect controversat, repugnant, revoltător, ulterior negat cu vehemență de către toată lumea, mai ales de veteranii din Vietnam. Un caz real, infam, pe care visa să-l pună pe ecran din 1969, atunci când a văzut la Festivalul de la Berlin un film cu același subiect, inspirat din articolul din New York Times al lui Daniel Lang. Totodată, unul din filmele preferate ale sale este Podul de pe râul Kwai și De Palma se hotărăște să devină pentru puțin timp David Lean (de unde și secvența-cheie de pe pod).
Filmat în Thailanda în condiții extrem de dure, cu o echipă de actori de A, tineri și în ascensiune (Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, John Leguizamo, John C. Reilly), Casualties of War a ieșit pe ecrane în 1989, fiind desființat de criticii care l-au găsit exploatativ și visceral și ignorat total de spectatorii care se săturaseră de Vietnam. Construit ca un imens flashback (și coșmar deopotrivă), conține stilul vizual copleșitor al lui De Palma și temele sale fetiș: vinovăția, trădarea camaraderiei, idila imposibilă, impotența, voyerismul pasiv. Dar de data asta, în loc de mult comentatele fantasme de tip thriller hitchcockian ale lui BDP, evenimentele de pe ecran sunt bazate pe o poveste reală. Spectatorul are cotă de participare la carnagiu și sentimentul de neplăcut, de culpabilitate se instaurează treptat, gradat, paroxistic. Muzica lui Ennio Morricone (după colaborarea anterioară la Incoruptibilii), punctată de naiul lui Gheorghe Zamfir, este sursa principală a emoției, elegiacă, tristă, evocatoare de prezențe de fantome trecute și vise năruite.
Filmul pe care America n-a suportat să-l vadă, unul din cele mai anti-războinice din câte s-au făcut, e reconsiderat astăzi și considerat mai bun sau egal cu predecesoarele sale, Vânătorul de cerbi, Apocalypse Now, Plutonul, Full Metal Jacket. Iar victima războiului din spatele ecranului a continuat să-și dezvolte temele recurente, disimulate în mult comentatele fantasme de tip thriller hitchcockian, fără a mai deranja conștiința civică a conaționalilor cu povești bazate pe fapte reale.
Extras: ediția extinsă (și prima, de altfel, care ajunge la noi) are incluse 6 minute în plus de film (ceea ce anterior apăruse ca scene tăiate – anchetarea lui Eriksson, o scenă în plus cu Dale Dye și un cameo inedit Greg Henry), un interviu emoționant cu Michael J. Fox și un Making Of de jumătate de oră în care De Palma e mult mai cald și volubil decât de obicei și, dacă vă întrebați de ce, înseamnă că nu ați văzut filmul.
Psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, therapists. Group therapy or one-on-one. Mentalist, alienist, psychoanalyst, shrink.
Speaking of the original HBO series In Treatment, which itself comes from the Israeli BeTipul, I thought of no better way to wrap up this series of rankings, especially since I had my share of shrinks in my time. :-)
The number one “psychiatric” film would be One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975, Milos Forman), but the psychiatrist there is merely window dressing; Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) is the one who embodies the oppressive system. And then there’s virtually any Woody Allen film, especially the Gene Wilder episode from *Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972), featuring the doctor who falls in love with Daisy the sheep, which I previously discussed in my ranking of performances in Woody Allen films.
K-PAX (2001, Iain Softley), in which Jeff Bridges plays Dr. Mark Powell, treating an alien—or merely a psychotic patient? (Kevin Spacey)—and the Argentine counterpart Hombre mirando al sudeste (1986, Eliseo Subiela), are really about the patients, much like Nash (Russell Crowe) in A Beautiful Mind (2001, Ron Howard).
There’s also Dr. Marc Chabot (Yves Montand) in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970, Vincente Minnelli), who hypnotizes Barbra Streisand and discovers she has lived previous lives. Barbra herself tried being a doctor in The Prince of Tides (1991), attempting to cure Nick Nolte.
But my personal favorite is Klaus Kinski as Dr. Hugo Zuckerbrot in Buddy Buddy (1981), Billy Wilder’s remake (and final film) of L’Emmerdeur (1973, Édouard Molinaro), unfortunately only a supporting role, complete with a fondness for nudist therapy.
And then there’s Dr. Elliot (Michael Caine) from Brian De Palma’s thriller Dressed to Kill (1980), whom I would call the “cross-dressing” variation.
Still, I decided to give the place to the illustrious Dr. Caligari. To paraphrase Siegfried Kracauer’s From Caligari to Hitler, this ranking goes from Caligari to Freud...
10. Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss) in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920, Robert Wiene)
Variation: creepy
Dr. Caligari runs an asylum and uses the somnambulist Cesare for various dirty jobs. Similar to Edgar Allan Poe’s The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether and its idea that the inmates have taken over the asylum.
Its descendants include Asylum (1972, Roy Ward Baker), as well as the opening and cover art of In the Mouth of Madness (1995, John Carpenter).
Successors: Fritz Lang’s Dr. Mabuse, Dr. M, the mega-villains of the James Bond franchise beginning with Dr. No, etc.
Caligari controls Cesare, in a scene set to music by Lacrimosa.
(The full film can be found on YouTube.)
9. Dr. Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) in Spellbound (1945, directed by Alfred Hitchcock)
Variation: mysterious
A thriller populated by psychiatrists, fascinated with psychoanalysis—a fairly new concept in Hollywood at the time—partly inspired by producer David O. Selznick’s own experiences in therapy.
Psychiatrist Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) treats the amnesiac John Ballantine (Gregory Peck), accused of murder.
Based on the novel The House of Dr. Edwardes by Francis Beeding, the pseudonym of John Palmer and Hilary St. George Sanders, screenplay by Ben Hecht.
Memorable above all for its dream sequence designed by Salvador Dalí, and for a recurring skiing sequence.
Successor:Gothika (2003, Mathieu Kassovitz), with Halle Berry as an amnesiac psychiatrist committed to an asylum for a murder she cannot remember committing.
Trailer! (The full film can be found on YouTube.)
8. Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) in Anger Management (2003, directed by Peter Segal)
Variation: out-of-control!
Jack Nicholson, usually the patient :-) (with the exception of “The Specialist” in the musical Tommy (1975), Ken Russell’s adaptation of The Who), plays an anger-management therapist—or whatever the proper term may be; the closest translation I found was “treatment for controlling one’s temper”—in a mediocre film that deserved a much better director.
A vehicle for Adam Sandler, who, when placed face to face with Jack’s explosive personality, is completely eclipsed.
Best scene: Adam, backed up by Jack, singing I Feel Pretty from West Side Story on the bridge!
7. Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) in the Halloween series
Created by John Carpenter for the landmark 1978 film.
The name was borrowed from Psycho, from the character played by John Gavin, Sam Loomis.
Dr. Loomis is Michael Myers’ nemesis. He treated him at the institution from which Myers escaped. He is also the commentator, the voice of reason, and the only character besides Michael Myers himself to appear throughout the series: five films, including Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, released shortly before Pleasence’s death in 1995.
Played by Malcolm McDowell in Rob Zombie’s remake.
On the nature of evil!
6. Dr. Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal) in Analyze This (1999, directed by Harold Ramis)
Variation: sleeps with the fishes!
Mob boss Vitti (Robert De Niro) has problems and decides to see a psychiatrist. But nobody must find out. Otherwise Vitti might end up sleeping with the fishes too, Luca Brasi style.
Nemesis: Chazz Palminteri, to whom the meaning of the word “closure” has to be explained.
The dramatic TV version:The Sopranos, released the very same year. Which came first? Only they know who inspired whom, but Analyze This is the parody version, a kind of sitcom blown up to feature-film proportions.
Sequel:Analyze That (2002), also directed by Harold Ramis.
Explaining the Oedipus complex! “Fuckin’ Greeks!”
5. Dr. Bill Capa (Bruce Willis) in Color of Night (1994, directed by Richard Rush)
Variation: it’s so bad, it’s good!
The most improbable psychiatrist ever.
Color-blind, traumatized by the color red, trapped in a Hitchcockian thriller inspired in part by Vertigo. Someone starts killing off his patients.
The patient roster is practically a compendium of cult actors: Lance Henriksen, Brad Dourif, Lesley Ann Warren, Kevin J. O'Connor.
Steamy sex scenes with the then-young Jane March (The Lover).
Bruce also played a psychiatrist, Dr. Crowe, in The Sixth Sense (1999, M. Night Shyamalan), but I left him off the list for objective reasons: he belongs to the spirit world. :-)
A fan-made video clip for the title song (super-cheesy), performed by Lauren Christy!
4. Dr. Martin Dysart (Richard Burton) in Equus (1977, directed by Sidney Lumet)
Variation: equestrian
A drama written by Peter Shaffer, adapted from his own play, in which Harry Potter himself (a.k.a. Daniel Radcliffe) is currently appearing nude on Broadway.
Burton delivers a magnificent performance as a doctor determined to cure an extremely disturbed young man obsessed with horses (Peter Firth).
Nominated for three Academy Awards (Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay) and winner of two Golden Globes, for Best Dramatic Actor (Burton) and Best Supporting Actor (Firth).
In the original Broadway production (1974–75), Anthony Hopkins played Dysart.
Trailer!
3. Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss) in What About Bob? (1991, directed by Frank Oz)
Variation: funny
Bill Murray is Bob, the patient who relentlessly torments Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss).
The Romanian title used on television (since it never received a theatrical release) was The Psychiatrist on Vacation.
Similar: the Burt Reynolds / Dom DeLuise pairing in The End (1978, directed by Burt Reynolds).
The “Gimme Gimme, I Need I Need...” scene. (The full film can be found on YouTube.)
2. Col. Vincent Kane (Stacy Keach) in The Ninth Configuration (1980, directed by William Peter Blatty)
Variation: red herrings!
Based on William Peter Blatty’s novel Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane (The Exorcist).
How Do You Fight A War Called Madness?
A new commander arrives at a castle where he applies shock therapy to former soldiers suffering from mental illness.
An entirely male cast: Jason Miller, Stuart Wilson, Neville Brand, Robert Loggia, Joe Spinell.
A film about post-war trauma—in this case Vietnam—one of the greatest unknown films ever made, although it enjoys a loyal cult following. Now available in its longer director’s cut.
Packed with references to The Exorcist, also written and produced by Blatty.
Filmed in Hungary. The castle is Burg Eltz in Germany.
Successor:Shutter Island (2010, Martin Scorsese).
Part One: the opening sequence set to “St. Antone” by Denny Brooks. (The full film can be found on YouTube.)
1. Dr. Freud (Alan Arkin) in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976, directed by Herbert Ross)
Variation: Freudian :-)
The film in which Dr. Freud (Alan Arkin) treats Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson), brought to him by Dr. Watson (Robert Duvall) for cocaine addiction—hence the film’s title.
Based on the novel by Nicholas Meyer.
Laurence Olivier plays Professor Moriarty and Vanessa Redgrave is the romantic interest, Lola Deveraux.
A special, one-of-a-kind film that clearly influenced Alan Moore’s graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Predecessor: Freud had appeared on screen before, from John Huston’s 1962 biopic Freud, starring Montgomery Clift, to the less likely incarnation played by Jamie Elman (his co-star from California Dreaming!) in the film where Armand Assante portrays Nietzsche, When Nietzsche Wept (2007, Pinchas Perry).
Remarkable debut by Charlie Polinger (w/d). It premiered in Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section. Worthy of the DGA Award. Amazingly it was shot in Romania (by Abis studios, art director Vlad Vieru just won a Gopo for the Yellow Tie) !!! Great widescreen compositions. in 2.39 : 1. Also shot on film,35mm by Steven Breckon, another name to follow.
Joel Edgerton (also a producer) is the only adult name in the film, the rest is a bunch of kids, real talent. Everett Blunck as Ben is a stand-out. They won best actors in Sitges, also together with Kayo Martin.
Lord of the Flies in a summer waterpolo camp with shades of masculin Carrie. It's set in 2003, no clue why. It's gross sometimes like teenagers are, it's unpleasant and it feels real. Tough to direct all these kids, and as a first picture, kudos !
Also great, I mean GREAT sound design and a great score by Johan Lenox, reminiscent also of Pino Donnagio's cues.
Corsa Notturna(see, it's in Italian;) will give you goosebumps. It looks like it's Lenox' first real score too. Bravo !
Also Moby's song Feeling So Real will never feel the same again ! 4 real ;)
7 out of 10 / 3 1/2 out of 5 ! Deserves even more but my empathy was with the filmmaking, not the characters.
When you have a 400 mill. $ budget you can make the best and bigger film ever made.
But instead you make a bloated overbearing part 2 to an enuff bloated Mission: Impossible 7: Dead Reckoning (my review here), film that came out in 2023 and disappointed bigtime performing. Keep in mind that movie cost 300 Mill. $ to make. That film was 2h43, this one is 2h49. Add the running times, 'cos basically it's the same film, and it's an almost 6 hours film which could've easily be told in 2hrs.
so, part 8 it is. No more Dead Reckoning part 2 but A grand finale, as they promised to spare us to do more. The Final Reckoning. hopefully last.
It's all Tom Cruise. Tom cruise on a plane, TC running (doing what he does best!), TC underwater, TC fighting, TC, TC, TC. 1st Mission was a masterpiece, done by Brian De Palma with the help of 4 screenwriters working their heads off. Then John Woo made TC the coolest there is. Then the next two films, meh. When Chirstopher McQuarrie, screenwriter of The Usual Suspects and attached director to Tom Cruise, took the Mission on its fifth installament it was a cool update. Hitchcock, opera set-up, more paranoia and a lot more running. Rogue Nation was good, Fallout (the 6th) was even better. Plus they were linked. But M:I 8 wants to link all Missions, especially to the original. So, Kitteridge is now the chief of CIA and you get to see that Shea Wigham is the son of Jon Voight (c'mon) and Rolf Saxon shows up 29 years later as William Donloe, from M:I 1996. Actually that was cool, cos it takes a funny line which is a Brian De Plama trademark wink and puts it into the film's reality. In act 3 the film looks like a poor pastiche of Indiana Jones, all geared up in a cave looking to kill The Entity (worst villain of 'em all if you ask me). The plot is ludicrous and it's repeated every ten minutes, every person speaking one at the time, no ever overlapping, like you're in grade A in school. Also an over-the-top pounding soundtrack which replaces Lorne Balfe with his disciples, two eager newcomers (Max Aruj and Alfie Godfrey), and they fill the space completely, no scene should not have music and booming sound effects. Plus ADHD editing and curved camera shots. And TC running , oh yeah, did I mention that again?
Well the world's fate depends on him more than it ever did of James Bond, Indy or Jack Ryan. He's the JC figure, the only one that can saves it. "It is written" (in the script I guess in Italics...)
Also a film made with the support of Department of Defense that gave these people airplane carriers so they can quote from Tom Gun, doesn't impresses me. The dooming feel these days it's not from AI but from the top of the White House and his omonim in Moscow.
3 out of 5, 6 out of 10 !
*the rating would be even lower if it wouldn't be for the impressive underwater sequence and the plane stunt. Remember, a movie star acts and entertains, we don't go to the movies to see them doing superhuman stunts we don't care about. It's called Moviemagic and movie tricks are doing that, you don't have to sell every film you're in piloting your own, driving fast motorcycles. You're no Steve Mc Queen...
O
poveste adevărată despre America, American Gangster este biografia
lui Frank Lucas, regele heroinei din Harlem, temut şi apreciat de
mafia italiană din New York, subtextul fiind despre capitalismul
american la fel de mult cât era The Godfather despre familie.
Organizaţia lui Lucas era familia sa, în întregime neagră, iar
Lucas avea un creier admirabil, de mare afacerist, care s-a
manifestat în acest domeniu infam, al distribuţiei de droguri. Dar
este şi povestea poliţistului incoruptibil şi instopabil, Richie
Roberts, care l-a prins pe Lucas şi a creat istorie. Denzel
Washington este impecabil şi irezistibil în rolul lui Lucas, aşa
cum ştie să o facă chiar şi cînd joacă bad guys. Este primul
film pe care-l face Denzel cu Ridley Scott, după cele 4 care le-a
făcut cu fratele său Tony. De cealaltă parte a legii, Russell
Crowe este Richie Roberts, din nou un rol de tip Method, pentru care
s-a îngrăşat, şi a căpătat accent, à la Serpico. Crowe este al
treilea film cu sir Ridley (după Gladiator şi A Good Year, vor urma Body of Lies si Robn Hood ca sa faca un cvintet-NA 2024) şi
mai au două pe ţeavă. Amuzant, Denzel şi Russell Crowe au mai
jucat împreună în thrillerul s.f. debil Virtuosity (1995) şi tot
de părţi opuse. Partiturile secunde sunt asigurate de actori
excelenţi; Ted Levine, Armand Assante, John Hawkes, Ruby Dee, RZA,
Cuba Gooding jr., dar revelaţia filmului este Josh Brolin, sosia
brunetă a lui Nick Nolte (cu al doilea rol major de anul acesta,
după No Country for Old Men).
Este cel mai american film pe care l-a
făcut Ridley Scott până acum. Respiră aerul locaţiilor sale,
filmat în New York, New Jersey şi Tailanda, de Harris Savides
(colaboratorul lui Gus van Sant şi al lui David Fincher). Este o
reconstituire minuţioasă şi scrupuloasă a epocii (de către
scenograful ataşat al lui Scott, Arthur Max), din 1968 pînă în
1976, perioadă în care New York-ul era cel mai murdar şi corupt
oraş din lume. Ambiţiosul proiect, numit anterior True Blue, a
trecut pe la Brian De Palma, Terry George şi Antoine Fuqua, dar
Ridley Scott a reuşit să-l aducă pe ecran într-o formă perfectă.
La o durată epică de 2 ore şi jumătate, nu plictiseşte şi nu
are scene în plus de virtuozitate stilistică, nici urmăriri, nici
shoot-out-uri tipice genului. Plusuri sunt muzica excelentă a lui
Marc Streitenfeld, şi piesele din epocă, care adaugă atmosferă.
Ridley Scott se află aici pe teritoriul lui Michel Mann, regizat în
maniera lui Martin Scorsese şi Sidney Lumet. Nu se pot anula
comparaţiile cu Scarface al lui Brian de Palma, dar sunt mai aproape
Carlito's Way al aceluiaşi regizor, Prince of the City sau Serpico
ale lui Lumet,The French Connection al lui Friedkin, The Godfather
al lui Coppola, Goodfellas şi The Departed de Scorsese, Heat de Mann
şi Year of the Dragon al lui Michael Cimino. O companie selectă,
ceea ce încearcă filmul lui James Gray, We Own the Night, dar nu
reuşeşte. American Gangster e un clasic, unul din
cel mai bune filme ale anului şi intră direct în categoria celor
mai bune filme cu gangsteri făcute pînă acum. Sper să-i aducă
lui Ridley Scott mult aşteptatul şi binemeritatul Oscar de regie.
NA
2024:și
nu i-a adus nimica. A fost nominalizat la 2 Oscaruri, Ruby Dee pentru rol secundar si scenografie....la Globurile de aur au fost nominlizati Ridley, Denzel si best film.
****patru
stele din cinci / 8 din 10
# Revazut in varianta EXTENDED (de ziua lui Ridley, 30 noiembrie 2024!), si se tine exceptional filmul, acum dupa 3 sezoane de Godfather of Harlem (in care Forrest Whitaker e mentorul lui Frnak Lucas, Bumpy Johnson, acum se face sezonul patru in care va aparea Lucas ca personaj). Scenele extinse sunt bine montate in intreg, la 175 de minute e la fel de alert si poate chiar mai intens!)
MaXXXine ends the X trilogy, continued with prequel Pearl (2022). Of course he just made it up as he went along...
It might be Ti West's most ambitious yet, more Meta and auto-referential. Plus the whole Hollywood puns and the 80's cheesy sleazy world of addiction and decadence. It's also the most self-ironical, self-conscious film of the three, more like a parody than the others, cynical, tongue-in-cheek, movie universe based, locked & loaded.
This is an article mentioning 7 films related to MaXXXine. Psycho (again!, after Pearl) and De Palma's Body Double (complete with a Frankie Goes to Hollywood sequence !)
Adding to that Sunset Blvd., What Happened to Baby Jane, Profondo Rosso, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains, even Chinatown... the elevator from 8 Millions Ways to Die, a showdown at the Hollywood sign...
And that damn Alligator has a cameo, this time on the small video screen, not from Tobe Hopper but from the Sergio Martino's the Great Alligator (1979) ;)
an interview with Ti West (here's my notes on his western, In a Valley of Violence, and the cult film The Sacrament), on the Konbini video store series, about his models, references, favorite flicks here or below: His BFI top films list is a classical (and classy;) one.
Considered the greatest American script, Chinatown (1974) was Robert Towne's masterpiece. He won an Oscar for it but Roman Polanski, the director, helped shaped the script and especially the downbeat ending.
Too bad they didn't do the third movie (Cloverleaf), but with the failure and fights over the sequel, The Two Jakes (2000), Towne and Jack Nicholson's friendship (who offered to direct!) had a huge fallout. They got over it eventually.
His great script of the early 70's were The Last Detail and Shampoo for Hal Ashby. He wrote uncredited scenes for Bonnie and Clyde and The Godfather, The Missouri Breaks, Warren Beatty's films (he was also great friends with Beatty and later on with Tom Cruise, who hold him in high esteem).
When they messed up his script for Greystoke, the Legend of Tarzan (directed by Hugh Hudson), so he signed the screen credit with the name of his dog (P.T. Vazak), and that name got nominated for an Oscar !!!!
He was considered the best script doctor in town and did great rewriting work on A list films for Big Bucks, and got to (co)write humdrum big budget High concept bonanzas like Mission: Impossible and Mission: Impossible 2 (The Chimera gimmick) or troubled productions like Days of Thunder. for Simpson/Bruckheimer and Tony Scott. Also on Crimson Tide for Scott and the same producers (dictated famously over the phone !!!).
Towne also directed four films, with mixed results, from the sports-themed Personal Best (1982) to Tequila Sunrise (1988, what that menage a trois was about?), Without Limits (1998, another sports-themed flick) and Ask the Dust (2006, based on the John Fante novel, which he wanted to do since the early Seventies !), that was also his last work.
He started in Hollywood working for Roger Corman. He wrote the Tomb of Ligia for Corman, on his series of Poe adaptations.
Bob Towne was 89. He was more like a Rock star in Hollywood than the reclusive screenwriter type. There won't be guys like him anymore, that's for sure...
Denzel is great, better than in the other two, meaner, wiser, deeper. Amazingly he shot this at 67 years of age (he will be 69 this December). Hard physical work, very much like his character, Robert McCall, "Roberto".
This time the film is set in Sicily and Italy, Naples, Altamonte, Rome. Beautiful locations, great supporting local actors, mean Camorra bad guys.
Written by Richard Wenk (16 Blocks, ), like the other two.
Happy to see Remo Girone in such a nice part. Dottore Enzo, a good guy for the man who fascinated me me in the early Nineties as Tano Cariddi in La Piovra series. Last time I saw Girone as Enzo Ferrari in Ford v Ferrari/Le Mans '66, another very nice part. But I remember him being in an episode of Killing Eve and doing nothing more than being part of the scenery.
The best of the series imo (they are based on The Equaliser TV series) , was very disappointed by the Second one (2018), and the first one (2014) was ok, but that's all. Expected more from Fuqua and Denzel re-teaming (this is their Fifth project together), they did greater stuff before (Training Day), and worse (The Magnificent Seven remake), so this is a plus for their re-match. Also it's supposed to be "The Final Chapter", as advertised.
Biggest asset, Robert Richardson stepping in as DOP, major change, the shadows, flares and the darkness are superb !
Also Marcelo Zarvos did a great job as the composer of the score, taking his cue from Harry Gregson-Williams who did the previous two film scores and the theme of the EQ. Zarvos pushes a very poignant new Eq theme, loud and urgent, like an angry Sonar, a la Trent Reznor & Nine Inch nails. The rest of the score is very dramatic, with classic cues and symphonic orchestrations, a Sicilian theme reminiscent of The Godfather, some Turandot ("Nessun Dorma") and it made me happy to hear the Sacha Distel's song, La Belle Vie in a less turbulent moment of the picture.
Spolier***there's a clue on who the Dakota Fanning character is, related to the Plummers, Bill Pullman & Melissa Leo, very important for the plot in Eq 1 & 2, they can be seen on a photograph next to Fanning's bed.
I know Mark Margolis from Scarface (1983, which I saw in 1984 or so, first time in black and white pan and scan video), where he was the Bolivian psychotic killer who doesn't speak English, "cienta metros"...His character is billed as "The Shadow". Once you saw him there you never forgot him.
Character actor of Jewish Polish descent, he was born in Philadelphia in 1939. He studied acting under Stella Adler at the Actor's Studio. He was in a lot of films and TV (over 150!), including many Darren Aronofsky films, from Pi to Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler, Noah and Black Swan.
But his late fame came from the Breaking Bad series, where he was the evil "Tio" Hector Salamanca, even more evil on a wheelchair ! He got nominated by a singular Emmy for "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series". He was a big part the spin-off too, in Better Call Saul. Last part he played was in the Your Honor series (also with Bryan Cranston), as the mob boss Carmine Conti.
Mark Margolis died August 3 2023 in New York. He was 83. RIP...
Every new Mission film (as every new film) gets a longer running time as opposed to Hitchcock's rule about length of the film according to human bladder...
I didn't like the MacGuffin at all, you don't really have great bad guy here and it seems like a cut together melange of action pieces trying to top those before -as those M:I movies are. This one tries to quote/rip-off the original one with Brian De Palma style red herrings, shot compositions, the train and the return of Kittridge (Henry Czerny). New femme fatale is introduced, Venice party rave style reminds of John Wicks, etc. The plot is mumbojumbo (mambojambo?) and we all know it. It's just pretext so why so serious? Well, Ethan Hunt (Le Cruise) is, 'cos he needs saving the world (Again) on its own. And to top himself with another world record stunt, or I should say the much too much publicised stunt that sells these M:I films since Burj Khalifa in the fourth one.
And Tom Cruise it's not getting any younger...he's gonna be 61 one by the time this one comes out. It's his and his only, his sole production and presenting credit, his director attiree, mr. Christopher McQuarrie who only directed a film of his own (The Way of the Gun), before becoming Cruise's main man...(Jack Reacher, 3 M;I and one coming up), scripts for Valkyrie (where they met), Edge of Tomorrow, The Mummy (!!!), Top Gun deux: Maverick. Maybe you remember, this is the guy who wrote The Usual Suspects back in 1995......Well I guess if he's happy with it, why should we be envious;)? As he works in such problematic enterprises (Covid shutdowns, reshoots, rewrites, studio madness over budgets, you know, the usual drill), this is the true Mission: Impossible, behind-the-scenes.
A 291 mill. $ budget for half of a movie...studios (Paramount) can't say no to the Cruiser especially after he saved the world B.O. with Top Gun 2. I'm afraid Part Two will fare even worst...
Odd coincidences: the train chase like the opening scene of Indy V and a Rome central a car chase like in Spectre and stunts on the Spanish Steps like in Fast X or XI, anyway the one from this summer.
Score by Lorne Balfe, the Scott's second film in the franchise after M:I 6-Fallout in 2018. Liked that movie much better. And the score (see here on my top 2018 soundtracks). See ya next summer for Part Deux! No more reshoots I hope;)
Phil Spector, the (im)famous producer, creator of the Wall of Sound and assassin of the actress Lana Clarkston (Scarface) died on Jan. 16 2021 of complications of Covid 19, while in prison. He was 81. Spector was one of the most revolutionary music producers of the sixties creating a new, more sophisticated sound to basic rockn roll and rn B songs, starting with To Know Him is to Love Him, his first hit with The Teddy Bears band, the only group in which he also played. He worked with The Ronnettes, marrying (and terryfying) his then wife Ronnie Spector pulled a gun on John Lennon whose albums he produced, .He produced most famously LET T BE, Beatles' last album, and John and Yoko's work, George Harrison, Leronard Cohen (Death of a Ladies Man).MWas an influence on Brian Wilson and worked even with The Ramones (The End of a Century, 1980). Played by Al Pacino in the HBO movie by David Mamet, Phil Spector (2013).
I'm really sorry you did not get to make more subversive great stuff in the last decade, the 2010's and I really wanted to like Domino and Passion but we all know you lost the passion for 'em in the haf-way.
Sorry you did not get to do that Untouchables prequel and the movie about Howard Hughes and other projects close to your heart.
You guys over everywhere should see the De Palma doc for more insights on the timeless influence of BDP movies.
***And now that's this crap idea of another Scarface remake circling around who seems to come to fruition :( a revisionist take by Luca Guagardino, who did a good job with Argento's Suspiria but Scarface as by De Palma 's 1983 is such a unique piece in time that no one can ever touch Pacino and Oliver Stone's take on Montana on a mountain of coke and madness on the Moroder waltz. My piece on one of my favorite films here !
An article and interview with Guagardino from Venice on this here !
The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975) it\s a mid seventies curio. Got to it through The Jerry Goldsmith score which is gold. Eerie and poignat, synth, piano and strings based , wonderful score with a Bernard Herrmann touch !
Reminiscent of Vertigo and Obsession, yet another Vertigo, and Sisters, becausee of Margot Kidder who plays young and old woman with a secter. Wide-eyed Michael Sarrazin is at its best and strangest in this tale of reincarnation with a tragic twist. Jennifer O\Neil is young and hot. Intense and weird. Directed by J. Lee Thompson, from a novel by Max Erlich and from his script, distributed by AIP.
Lois Lane flew with Superman :( Margot Kidder was 69.
Loved her when I was 8, saw her later in Brian De Palma's Sisters, loved the voice, the charme, the smile....bon voyage kiddo :(
Ron Goossens, Low Budget Stunt Man is the most FUN i've seen in a while, an offensive comedy from Netherlands ser in satirical movie world and introducing a far out character which is like Kenny Powers done by Will Ferrell combined with the essential loser character from Kaurismaki films. Directors Steffen & Flip take fun at their own New Kids series and the whole Dutch film industry and society. Cameos from Dick Maas and other directors and actors, a parody of 80's classic pop cheesy hits by the wonderful German 70's singer Dennie Christian (incl. Scarface's Pushing to The Limits) and the soon to be classic
Welcome to 2016 :(
chiar azi cind boleam si colegii de bresala il sarbatoreau pe Vivi, al nostru VilmoȘ) s-a dus ultimul mare DOP artist al luminii al unei epoci fantastice, acum alaturi de prietenul sau Laszlo Kovacs, mort in 2007. Despre ei s-a facut un documentar, prezentat la Cannes, No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos
(2008).
Vilmos Zsigmond avea 85 de ani. S-a nascut in Ungaria in 1930 (la Szeged), de unde a fugit, asemeni lui Laszlo, Peter Medak si multi altii, in urma revoltei din 1956. Primul film respectabil, McCabe & Mrs. Miller
(as director of photography, 1971), apoi The Hired Hand. Din nou pentru Altman, The Long Goodbye.
Deliverance pentru John Boorman. Sperietoarea lui Jerry Schatzberg. Sugarland Express pentru Spielberg. A luat Oscarul pentru Intilniri de gradul trei, a filmat si Vinatorul de cerbi si Heaven's Gate pentru Michael Cimino,
si patru filme de Brian De Palma (incepind cu Obsession-1976, apoi Blow Out) cu care era prieten si cu care a impartit virtuozitatea cadrelor-plan extrem de dificile (v. tracking shotul de deschidere din Bonfire of Vanities, 1990),nominalizare la Oscar pentru The Black Dahlia. In ultima perioada a lucrat cu Woody Allen, 3filme: Melinda and Melinda, Cassandras Dream si You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.
I haven't found
a cinematographer I like as much Vilmos Zsigmond. His style is so
natural and has so much more gravity and grittiness than this slick,
glossy photographic style. Dan Mindel-DOP
Cu Nicholson regizor la The Two Jacks,anterior l-a filmat in The Witches of Eastwick si apoi in The Crossing Guard.
Articol indiewire, 9 filme de Zsigmond, exemple de masterclass de lumini si umbre, aici
Masterclass de la festivalul de la Toronto in 2014, 70 de minute no less, aici sau:
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