sâmbătă, 31 decembrie 2016

2016-Anul filmului românesc-Interviu ALD la Aarc

Dupa ce am facut in revista Cinemap-iarna 2016- o "ancheta" despre anul filmului romanesc, am fost si pe la Aarc (situl Totul despre filmul romanesc), la cinema Studio, sediul UCIN, la invitatia Cristinei Corciovescu, pentru a vorbi despre filmul romanesc si anul sau 2016, an ISTORIC!!!
 PAREREA MEA- CEL MAI BUN din ultimii 26 de ani, dupa 1989, daca nu si dinainte !
intreg interviul pe situl lor, aici !
si direct linkul youtube:


vineri, 23 decembrie 2016

Top filme 2016 ALDM (& series)

am scris pentru filmreporter si le pun asa cum sunt plus adaug linkurile mele...

Ce aparține de anul cinematografic 2015 – și atunci le-am văzut – deși la noi au fost în cinema in 2016: The Hateful Eight, Son of Saul și Youth.
*Nu am văzut de anul acesta Silence al lui Scorsese, They Live by Night, etc
Deci, din ce am vazut în 2016:
– la cumpăna dintre ani,  cel mai cinematic film al anului iese complet uitat: THE HATEFUL EIGHT  (în mod absolut, filmul anului distribuit la noi în cinema!).

Back to 2016:
La La Land – muzicalul anului!  & more-cronica mea aici
Image result for la la land

Heil Caesar – Coen’s Life of Christ

Hail, Caesar! Poster

Ma Loute – Bruno Dumont ’s Flying Circus
Elle – Paul Verhoeven  acid și en francais / Isabelle Huppert excelentă
A  Bigger Splash – Luca Guadagnino / La Piscine remake rock: Bowie, The Stones, Beefhart, Harry Nielsen +Pantelleria / Ralph Fiennes = genial – remake-ul anului


The Neon Demon – Das Modell by NWR -cronica mea aici
Image result for neon demon


Nocturnal Animals – Tom Ford – revenge is best served… stylish  -v. aici


Elvis and Nixon -Michael Shannon actorul anului (si pentru Nocturnal Animals, Midnight Special, Frank & Lola), si Kevin Spacey as Nixon -uncanny 0 -funny as hell !
Elvis & Nixon Poster
The Land of the Enlightened  – docudrama / Pieter-Jan De Pue – Koyaansiquatsi în AfganistanImage result for land of the enlightened

Gimme Danger – best doc / rockumentary  – Iggy and the Stooges / Jarmusch punk
In a Valley of Violence – Ti West / westernul anului -cronica mea aici
Hell or High Water – David Mackenzie – No country for Oil men
Don’t Breathe – cel mai bun horror distribuit de vreun studio
Arrival – pentru design extraterestru -v. aic
iImage result for arrival

Toni Erdmann – Maren Ade – cel mai bun film românesc sau despre România, probabil Oscar film străin
American Honey – Andrea Arnold / observațional, asemeni unui documentar, un film puternic care confirmă o regizoare
Deadpool -superhero movie of the year
Românești:

  1. Afacerea Est   v. aici
  2. Câini
  3. Două lozuri 
  4. Sieranevada
  5. Orizont
Serialul anului
:Image result for westworld

  1. Westworld
  2. Quarry
  3. Hap and Leonard
  4. Stranger Things
  5. The Strain season 3
Mini-seria anului: The Night Of
-Turturro -career best
Image result for the night of
contender: The Night Manager

La La Land (2016)

La La Land (2016)

este muzicalul anului si nu numai ! 
posibil sa fie cel mai bun  si original muzical de la All That Jazz incoace !
Peste Moulin Rouge si Across the Universe, pe care le-am cotat ca pe cele mai originale
muzicaluri din ultimiii 20-30 de ani si laLa La Land Poster fel ca ele, un film  original, dar de data asta cu totul, soundtrack, music, plot, nu este adaptarea nici unui muzical anterior, nici nu are piese reeditate. Plin de referinte cinematografice si  de omagii aduse genului, e si un poem de iubire adresat orasului ingerilor si vislor celor ce vin aici pentru a deveni altceva (City of Stars), la la land !
Este al treilea film al lui Damian Chazelle-Whiplash ( v. cronica mea aici), care la numai 31 de ani se dovedeste a fi cel mai interesant regizor din Hollywood azi !
Actorii, amindoi minunati, cu o chimie perfecta intre ei, Gosling & Stone
Muzica din nou, de Justin Hurwitz, excelenta !!!


8 din 10 / 4 din 5 !!!
DE VAZUT LA CINEMA PE UN ECRAN MAAARE, MAARE !!!
****
Bineinteles ca va lua premii peste premii (a avut premiera la Venetia unde a luat premiu Emma Stone), 7 nominlaizari la Globul de Aur, premiul AFI pentru cel mai bun film al anului, sigur va lua greul la Oscaruri, best song -City of Stars, are you shining just for me?"? Iar Chazelle daca va lua Oscarul va deveni cel mai tinar cistigator al acestui premiu ! Succes !

joi, 15 decembrie 2016

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
e ok, mai ales comparativ cu duda de anul trecut (v. aici)Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Poster
un soi de Star Wars 3 1/2 adica face legatura intre revenge of the sith si a new hope. 11 ani dupa unul si 39 de ani dupa original (si iar incepem cu cronologia schiozida livrata de Lucas).
E si primul SW fara scroll de inceput :)
Nu va asteptai la prea mult Forest Whitaker si Mads Mikkelsen, ca nu sunt.
Scena de inceput buna, se fac completarile cu SW4 (1977) bine. Prea lung (134 min.) si obositor in 3D (din nou conversie, dar unde il putem vedea in 2D,) !!!!  IMAX-ul e din nou un trish, adica e un blow din formatul original.- e filmat in Ultra Panavision 70 !!!
Felicity Jones e ok, sexi dar asexuata, robotul (K 2SO-Alan Tudyk) nu e asa de exasperant, Diego Luna nah, Diego, cu accent spaniol, Riz Ahmed face cam figuratie.
Pentru mine plusul vine de la unul din actorii pe care ii urmaresc demult si carora le-am dorit un breakthrough de acest tip: Ben Mendelhson ( Animal KingdomStarred Up, TDKR, Missisippi Grind), care e negativul de serviciu in acest Episod... Director Orson Krennic, bad guy in alb cu pelerina. alba, reminiscent de Peter O'Toole in Lawrence al Arabiei (vazut exact la 3 ani de la moartea lui Peter O'Toole), care joaca in maniera Caligula pe scena, in stil clasic englezesc, ceva si de Malcolm McDowell -tot re: Caligula :), desi Ben Mendelhson e australian.
Interviu cu el, aici 
si un articol despre cele mai bune roluri ale sale aiciBen Mendelsohn Rogue One

Duo-ul asiatic, Donnie Yen (Zatoichi-like) si Wen Jiang da un plus de...Forta.
Mai avem Peter Cushing (Tarkin) recreat prin CGI. Se putea putin sau mult mai convingator, sau fara el, dar nah, un nou film cu Peter Cushing, mort in 1994, prin CGI e mai bun decit un actor care sa il imite (desi un Cumberbatch ar fi fost fun, mult mai fun ca in Star Trek).
Si in plus, da, apare Darth Vader !!! care e EL, cu vocea lui James Earl Jones ! Dupa 33 de ani !
Locatiile (Islanda -inceput, Iordan-, Maldive), efectele, mai old-fashioned, un atac terorist intr-o piata, si intreg universul mai bine pus la punct ca in Ep. VII. Muzica lui Michael Giacchino e un omagiu adus lui John Williams (e primul film fara muzica lui JW), extrem de onorabil ! Mickey mousing space opera.
Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla) se dovedeste a fi un regizor mai bun ca JJ si GL, iar story-ul (inventat de John Knoll, omul din spatele efectlor speciale SW de la ILM !, dar bricolat de Tony Gilroy si Chris Weitz ) care ne explica basically de ce a putut fi distrusa Steaua Mortii in SW A New Hope (IV). Rogue One e o sub-poveste de origine mai buna decit cele incropite de Lucas cu green screen si CGI. Aici sunt decoruri practice si mai multe efecte speciale fizice decit in orice SW de dupa 1983 ! L-as clasa imediat dupa ep. IV si V, ca un cinema de matineu pe care trebuie sa il vezi mereu cu virsta de la 6 la10 ani (si poate atunci pericolul ar fi fost mai real ,acum pare doar expediat :(
3 din 5, 6 din 10 !

Mississippi Grind (2015)

as far as buddy gambling movies go, Mississippi Grind it's not a new thing but a fresh one....
a Scarecrow (the 1973 Jerry Schatzberg film) with poker. and some racetrack bets and with A rate performances from Ben Mendelhson and Ryan Reynolds.
Directed by the team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (It's Kind of A Funny Story, Half Nelson) 
I watched this because i wanted to catch-up with a grand Ben Mendelsohn performance, cos I've just saw his big break in Rogue One, the new Star Wars toy of the (not so) Far Away Galaxy franchise.
Wrote about him in films like  Animal KingdomStarred UpTDKR.
Mississippi Grind Poster
coming up from the tradition of gambling movies, drifters, The Hustler to its sequel, The Color of Money, to poker films, from The Cincinnati Kid to Rounders, The Gambler and its remake-James Toback has even a cameo in it !
great blues soundtrack !
3 out of five / 6 out of ten !

luni, 12 decembrie 2016

Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)

Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)  comes for me from the list of 25 films to see (no one talks about) from Taste of Cinema. Caught up also with  Alois Nebel and Attila Marcel -though they have nothing in common it has the ring of a nice Pair :).
but this I wanted to see because the director, Panos Cosmatos is the son of one of the names of directors I knew as a child, italo-greek George Pan  Cosmatos, the late director of Cassandra Crossing, Escape from Athens, and allegedly stand-in /ghost director for guild credits reasons in Cobra, Rambo and Tombstone.
And this is Panos' debut, and it's inspired, as he says from his blurry memories of imagining watching films *that he was not allowed to*like 2001-A Space Odyssey, THX 1138, Altered States, Scanners, on VHS as a child. Images, feelings, more than normal narrative, cryptic storytelling in the Freudian way.
BtBR is dedicated to his mother, Birgitta Ljungberd, who was a surrealist sculptor.
The film is set in an alternative 1983, in Arboria, a a medical experimental facility where Elena (Eva Bourne) is kept prisoner by doctor Nyle (Michael Rodgers). The flashbacks of the foundation of the Institute go back into 1966 and deep into the drug culture gone wrong.
I can see traces of this going also into the hit series of the years, Stranger Things. 
Beyond the Black Rainbow Posterthis poster it's a bit tricky...

So, Beyond the BR is a one-of-a kind film, psychotronic, hypnotic, etheric, spellbinding, trippy, with the rhythm of a dreamscape /nightmare, and it brings in structures and triangle and prism shaped neons, from, well, The Neon Demon

Firstshowing net on The Neon Demon:
"Like some kind of wicked mix of Beyond the Black Rainbow and Suspiria with a dash of Elle Fanning."
The soundtrack, score and sound design. definetly could be an influence on Refn, even the sound of Drive. Its high time late seventies and 80’s analog synth with shades of Carpenter (again ?), and trippy electronica of Popol Vuh, Tangerine Dream,  -another influence of the director is Michael Mann's The Keep).
BTBR-chasing-the-rainbow
The music is by Jeremy Schmidt as Sinoia Caves, with an SSQ end track, Anonymous, and a splash of Angel Dust from... Venom !
A third act more explicit, logical and with a spped up narrative, ends with a dry finale, almost like a joke, and a final quote from Buckaroo Banzai (which is a classic and an old-all time favorite of mine), "No matter where you go…There you are”
Overlong at 1h50, but fascinating, one-of-a kind opus, that remains with you long after you saw it, with a better vine actually than during the screening.
3 1/2 out of Five, 7 out of TEN.
A great radiography of the film as a neo-retro piece can be watched here:
and a very good review here



vineri, 9 decembrie 2016

Antibirth (2016)

Antibirth de Danny Perez. e un soi de The Brood trash, in univresul lui John Waters, extrem de visceral neplacut dar si de un umor negru absurd.Antibirth Poster
Natsha Lyonne e o junkerita care ramine gravida, fara a stii insa cum, un rol absolut curajos pentru actrita! Prietenele ei sunt Chloe Sevigny si Meg Tilly, care traiesc intr-un mediu ultrasordid si cumva claustrofob. Televizunea le joaca si ea feste, la cit de drogate sunt. Poanta finala e funny (intr-un mod absurd, morbid si intunecat), dar nu merita excursia de 1 ora jumatate prin acest cosmar suburban sordid. Cu toate acestea are deja un cult minor (a fost prezentat la Toronto After Dark Film Fest in septembrie).

2 1/2 din 5, 5 out of Ten !


In a Valley of Violence (2016)

Westernul anului / Western of the year
In a Valley of Violence  has shades of Lucio Fulci and Clint Eastwood's High Planes Drifter in this unexpected homage to gritty westerns and the whole spaghetti genre, from the opening credits to the great music score (by Jeff Grace). Ti West's (The Sacrament, House of the Devil) most accomplished film, with elements of humor and horror. Travolta is great fun again for once, and Ethan Hawke is forgiven for the sin of Magnificent Seven. Taissa Farminga has the best performance, that after the genius dog Abby (Jumpy) that steals every scene she's in. Somehow weird, this film has the same premise that John Wick has.
3 1/2 out of 5. 7 out of 10 !

joi, 8 decembrie 2016

Greg Lake RIP

Greg Lake died today. He was 69. The second in row in Emerson, Lake and Palmer, he performed solo and before ELP with King Crimson. He composed Lucky Man and C'est la Vie (aceasta cu Peter Sinfield). This year (March 11) Keith Emerson died also at 71. These guys were like giants back in the day. They never played Romania, in any incarnation, or even solo. So I only got to listen to them and that I can say it now, as I said it then, was always an honor.
obituary on BBC 
"The greatest music is made for love, not for money,"  Greg Lake 


Le Fantôme: Jake Scott's Ford Short Film with Mads Mikkelsen

after the BMW films now the Ford films. Ridley Scott's son, Jake, directs  Le Fantôme, this short stylish thriller shot in Croatia, starring Mads Mikkelsen as the Phantom and Barbara Steele as The Widow !