Top films of 2022 (& doc and series)

I saw more films this year than in the last 2 pandemic years (2020 here and 2021 here),  unfortunately not so many in a cinema, and mostly not so good there, a lot more streaming, my count of 427 films (including those rewatched (always a pleasure:) & catch-up's, shorts, documentaries and series (=one count per season or series)

I have nor seen yet some films they talk/write about or could be contenders, Aftersun (saw it meanwhile, not for me), Babylon (which would've made the top but saw in Jan 23 on the big screen), The Whale, EO (that could be a color Au hasard Balthasar), so on and so far.

***-where there are links there are my reviews or opinions. 

Top 5 Feature Films:

1. The Banshees of Inisherin -Martin McDonagh

2. Triangle of Sadness-Ruben Ostlund

3. Nope -Jordan Peele

4. The Fabelmans-Steven Spielberg

5. Elvis -Baz Luhrmann

6. (mention) El Buen Patron (Fernando Leon de Aranoa, from 2021, saw it on this year's TIFF with a magnificent Javier Bardem) and Kiril Serrebrennikov's Petrov's Flu (from last year's Cannes, saw it in cinema this spring)

-also in our cinemas Nightmare Alley,  that tops my 2021 top ;) And also from last year, The Forgiven, from  Martin McDonagh's brother John Michael (McDonagh), reminiscent of Under the Vulcano, with a brilliant performance by Ralph Fiennes.

Debut of the year: 

John Patton Fotd -Emily the Criminal. Also a superb performance by Aubrey Plaza (could win Independent Spirit Awards).

Top 3 Made in Romania

1. Miracol-Bogdan George Apetri

2. R.M.N.-Cristian Mungiu

3. Metronom-Alexandru Belc

Comedy of the year:

CoupeZ! (Final Cut) -Michel Hazanavicius

-also could've been The Menu if they emphasised more on the comedy/satire. 

Top deleted scene of the Year: or The Nicolas Cage Award 2022

Nicolas Cage vs. Nic Cage in the deleted Caligari dream sequence from The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent! (unfortunately a wasted film :()

Top 3 Horror

Pearl (Ti West) (tied as it should with) X (Ti West)

Barbarian (Zach Cregger)

Bones And All (Luca Guagadino-a sort of neo Near Dark meets Cat People in Nomadlands:)

Animation (& curio) of the year: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio  

*

As for performances, Tár can get Cate Blanchett's tour-de-force can get her a third Oscar. But deservingly would be Vicky Krieps for Corsage (which could win for best foreign film also). Ana De Armas' bravura performance in Blonde  is the stunt of the year ! And she got nominated too...

I root for Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in The Banshees of Inisherin, And Kerry Condon as supporting actress.

and we can see Mark Rylance to get another Oscar (also supporting) for Bones and All. (UPDATE: oups, he didn't even get nominated...)

***

Now, also about the worst, Disney/Zemeckis' Pinocchio surely wins the cup, with Amsterdam close and Blonde being the most disappointing film of the year (for me).  Too bad George Miller's much expected Three Thousand Years of Longing didn't do all the distance....

Series (& mini-series)

1. The Offer (Michael Tolkien, Leslie Greif, Paramount+)

2. Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas, HBO)

   
   
   

3. Better Call Saul (Vince Gilligan, final season, Netflix)

4. White Lotus season 2 (Mike White, HBO)

5. The English (Hugo Blick, Prime, HBO)

6. Tokyo Vice (Michael Mann, J.T. Rogers-HBO max)

7. Peacemaker (James Gunn, DC,HBO max) also best super-hero film/series

8. 1883 (Taylor Sheridan, Paramount+)

9. Slow Horses (season 1, apple tv, based on Mick Herron's books, great theme song (Strange Game) by Mick Jagger!)

10. Barry -season 3 (Bill Hader, Alec Berg, HBO)                                                                                   +Australian hitman show Mr. Inbetween would've been in the top up, cos' I saw all three seasons and loved it, but it ran from 2018 to 2022, on FX. Scott Ryan, the protagonist Ray Shoesmith, the director and the creator of the show is a name that Hollywood should notice. 

Documentary

Ennio -Giuseppe Tornatore (premiered Venezia 2021,  saw it this year,was released super-limited in Romanian cinemas)

The Last Movie Stars (Ethan Hawke, TNT, HBO)

RIP Pele (the Real Conqueror)

Legendary Brazilian fottballer Pele made a single film in his career,but whaaat a film! It's called VICTORY or Escape to Victory (1981), a WW2 film directed by none other than John Huston, starring Stallone, Michael Caine and https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083284/?ref_=nm_knf_t_1Max von Sydow. Pele makes a legendary fork in the film 

and all my schoolmates were obsessed with that scene so they went to the cinema to see it again and again...One of the few fun films in early 80's communist Romania, translated as DRUMUL spre Victorie. Also weirdly enough,the film which is the sports (football) Great Escape was shot in another communist caountry,Hungary. Pele died on Dec. 29th 2022,he was 82....

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

The Banshees of Inisherin looks like it could be the film of this year, 2022, for me. 

Martin McDonagh impressed me (In Bruges, no. 5 in my top of 2008), psyched me (Seven Psychopaths) and dissapointed me as well (Three Billboards Outside EM, why? cos I expected more...)

But this,the Banshees is his best film until now, his most literary (the man is a great playwright as well, see “The Lieutenant of Inishmore,”a play from 2001), about ordinary Irish people on a small island, during the Irish Civil war, in 1923.  It's about friendship, it's about denial, depression, love, booze and ultimately death. I love McDonaugh's fascination with pets (cats, dogs or donekys), and their role in men's inner secret affections.

Colin Farrell  (named best actor at Venice Film festival, and up to an Oscar imo) and Brendan Gleeson have been up together on the big screen for McDonagh in his most impressive and personal debut, In Bruges (2008). Farell was also the lead in his LA fare, Seven Psychopaths (2012). But now they do a tour-de-force that reminded me of Waiting for Godot or Guinness drinkers Rosenkrantz and Guilderstern are Dead. I think these two plays could be good companions to The Banshees.

Superbe supporting cast-Kerry Condon as Farrell's sister Siobhan and Barry Keoghan as the dom Dominic.

Absolute gorgeous music by Carter Burwell,  McDonagh collaborator on all his four gigs. Burwell,Coen's fidelius musician and musicist is worth an Oscar (twice nominated,  maybe third time's a charm;)

RIP Angelo Badalamenti

One of the great film composers, Angelo Badalamenti, David Lynch's closest collaborator, died on Dec. 11th. He was 85. 

He worked with Lynch from Blue Velvet to Twin Peaks, Lost Highway,The Straight Story and to Mulholland Drive , and last again for the new Twin Peaks (2017), but he was a composer of great songs (for Nina Nimone, Nancy Wilson, Shirley Bassey, Marianne Faithull, etc), as much as scores. He won a Grammy in 1990 for Twin Peaks.

Worked close also with Jean-Pierre Jeunet (La Cite des enfants perdus, Une longue dimanche de financailles) and Paul Schrader (Comfort of Strangers, Forever Mine, Auto Focus, Dominion). Also did the music for Russian director Fedor Bondarciuk's war epic Stalingrad,Danny Boyle'sThe Beach, Eli Roth's cabin Fever and for Nicole Garcia's L'adversaire. 

Obituary in The Guardian.

Final Cut / Coupez! (2022)

Coupez! (Cut, but English title Final Cut, 2022) was the opening film at Cannes Film Festival in 2022. A high profile remake of Japanese cult classic from 2017, One Cut of the Dead, written & directed by Michel Hazanavicius (OSS, L'artiste, Le redoutable) and distributed by Wild Bunch. A film-in-film, meta-film if ever was one;), zombies included (I think worse we can do is to spoil it!),  the making of a Z grade zombie film. It is one of the year's most fun and underrrated films. Think in comparison of the (a)void The Dead Don't Die, another opening in Cannes, this time by Jim Jarmusch in his one-too-many deconstruction of genres. My two-bits on that here!

But Coupez! has to be seen especially in its construction of 3 acts, 1st and 3d mirroring one another. I have seen only bits of the original Japanese which was a low-budget 25.000$ production but it was a huge hit (25 million $ BO) with awards in over 20 genre festivals. The French remake had a 4 million euros budget and known actors in the lead, Romain  Duris as the neurotic director, Berenice Bejo as his actress/makeup artist wife.  It's more sophisticated (mais oui, c"est français) and also nods the Japanese original, with members of the original cast, adding a most funny sound effects technician. The Z comes from the Z channel, a genre streaming initiative. You just have to watch the one-take act 1 (first half hour) with patience and then you'll be rewarded ;) Crazy rhythm and joie-de-cinema, Day for Night avec beaucoup du faux sang!

RIP Christine McVie

...sad,sad,sad...on St.Andrew's day..

.Christine McVie, the golden voice of the Fleetwoods and the McVies (she was the wife of FM bass player John McVie) ,the Songbird is gone at 79....She composed among the other songs, some of FM's greatest hits, Don't Stop, Everywhere, Songbird and Little Lies.

I got to see her with Fleetwood Mac (minus Lindsey ;() in Dublin in June 2019...a gorgeous unforgetabble day (and nites:)...

My favourite album of hers is not with the Macs (though it should've been a FM album  at 1st, but Stevie said no; ( ), so with only Lindsey Buckingham in tile and her billed first, one of the highlights of 2017 (though John McVie and Mick Flletwood are on all the tracks:).  One of my top emotional favourites of that year (here).

BBC Four documentary about her, Fleetwood Mac's Songbird – Christine McVie in 2019.

I want it all
All the sparkling things
A new merry go round...

(Carnival Begin)

The Fabelmans (2022)

 The Fabelmans could've /should've been called The Spielbergs :)

A very personal account of Steven Spielberg childhood, from the age of seven to age 18, his family and his passion for cinema developing. More interesting than many of the new films (it's a cycle ,a series) that famous directors do recently about their childhood/coming-of-age (Branagh's Belfast, PTA's Licorice Pizza, Cuaron'sRoma, Linklater'sAppolo, James Gray's ArmageddonTime). 

Overlong sure (2h31)  and over-sentimental (Spielberg ?!, his own memories...) but a real treat for cinema lovers. One of the year's best films and what we expected from SS in aloong time...

To be seen in the movie theatre, especially for the visual qualities.

Variety called it `the Rare Great Movie About the Ecstasy of Making Movies`. 

Agreed!

TBC...

Gabriel LaBelle personifies a very motivated and ambitous SS (Sammy Fabelman). 

Also you gotta see who John Ford is;)

Ruben Östlund talks about his favorite films

 Ruben Östlund talks here (or direct link below) about his favorite films, etc. With the occasion of French release of Triangle of Sadness (my review here), named en francais 'Sans filtre'.

He also names as one of his favorite films Godard's Sympathy for the Devil (One+One), of which I recently wrote on the Godard tribute here. Intersting to see he apreciates Annette (on my top of 2021 here),as well as Parasite and Roy Andersson, and that made ski films before he went to film school.

This is a great programme that takes directors into a video (DVD) shop in Paris. Konbini Video club.

You can also check other episodes, Cronenberg, Argento or Brad Pitt )

The English (2022)

Best thing on TV streaming right now. Not Yellowstone, nor Tulsa King, but The English. 

And with a lot of resemblances with 1883, the Yellowstone prequel from earlier this year on Paramount+.

It's a 6 episodes mini-series, like 5 hours movie, BBC with Amazon Prime but in Romania on HBO Max. 

Created and directed by Hugo Blick with a superb Emily Blunt and a majestic Chaske Spencer. A gritty revenge western, with one of the best bad guys in recent memory, Rafe Spall. A terrific supporting performances by Cieran Hinds. And a surprisingly low-key Stephen Rea. Shot in Spain, in Castilla-La Mancha and Almeria, where the legends were made...

As a good and old friend of mine wrote me: It's like Sergio Leone would make The Last of the Mohicans :)

Triangle of Sadness (2022)

'I command you- enjoy the moment!'

Triangle of Sadness (2022) is one of the year's best films, an amoral fable and a statement of our times (or any times?). An unapologetic great satire, a comedy as dark as they come (or go :).

Lots to say/write/think, I got what I expected and more, was entertained (is this the word?) and it fits my world viewpoint somehow (und more:) In den Wolken ). I think it's Ruben Östlund's best, a mix of Marco Ferreri's La grande bouffe (1973-that is something the French might have loved t in Cannes) with shades of Monty Python (The Meaning of Life dinner sketch and beyond ;) and Bunuel's Le Charme discret de la burgeoisie (1972, and lots more of Bunuel into it),  three chapters of exuberating nihilism and cinematic anarchism with a great ambiguous ending,  A young couple, two fashion models, beautiful but crude in life (brit Harris Dickinson -watch out for this guy (cos he's on his way to the Top!!!) and a special nod for Southern African actress Charlbi Dean as Yaya, who sadly died recently at the crudest age of 32...) find themselves on a yacht in an exclusive cruise for the very very rich and powerful (?). Trouble ensures. Galore. A lot of puking included. No more spoilers here. I would say the 1st act is somehow slower and tricky, it gets you into a very different direction than the other two chapters that follow. The film duration of 2h27 is well justified though and I personally would've liked act 3 to be even longer...

Woody Harrelson as the aloof captain is a blast, and Croatian Zlatko Burik (recurrent Nicolas Winding Refn actor: Pusher trilogy,Bleeder and now Copenhagen Cowboy) as 'I sell Shit' Dimitri is the highlight of an impeccable eclectic cast. Filipino Dolly De Leon as Abigail deserves an award alone! No score composed but brilliant sound design and sarcastic choice of songs :)

I would've picked this one tho (from the aptly titled Human Menagerie;) Great widescreen cinematography by fellow Swede Fredrik Wenzel, Östlund's DOP also for The Square and Force Majeure. To be seen on the big screen! (it runs in selected theaters in Romania NOW). 

It is a worthy Palme d'Or, second for  Östlund, entering now a very select circle of filmmakers (number 9 after Coppola, the Dardennes, Kusturica, Imamura, Haneke, Alf Sjoberg !  Bille August !, Ken Loach !, all overrated IMO except the Coppola wins -his second Palme for Apocalypse Now though it was a tie-in with Schlondorff, also Kusturica and Haneke). I thought  Östlund's first Palme was way overrated, The Square didn't convince me in its last act, leaving the satire and irony for some sort of cheesy human redemption. Here's not the case, ToS being closer to Parasite than to Östlund's own Force Majeure or Play. A sort of 'eat the rich' and the best use of the word 'shit' on the big screen. Oh, also think Pret-a-Porter as a Disney Pocahontas film compared to the modelling /fashion insight of ToS. Also The Square and Parasite were films I saw on their world premiere in Cannes, in 2017 and 2019, I wished I was there to see this one as well. I really don't think this will make much fuss at the Oscars next year, as it's way too dark and cynical for the AMPAS to enjoy it as it should. The redeeming values of human race are very low here and it's very actual and morbid fun. But I guess in an European way, we'll see about that soon enough. As written above, one of the year's best films and a statement of the times that will grow surely into an unapologetic great cult film. 

4 1/2 out of 5/ 9 out of 10!

The Title meaning:

 "Triangle of Sadness," as defined by filmmaker Ruben Östlund, is a term appropriated from the beauty industry, referring to the space between one's eyebrows where the struggles of life manifest as wrinkles. That is, if you don't have the money, power and privilege to smooth them out with a quick procedure.

***

check out also my post about talking about his favorite films. Here or

https://aldmovieland.blogspot.com/2022/11/ruben-ostlund-talks-about-his-favorite_23.html

*****

Update: Dec.11th. Triangle just won big at EFA 2022 (European Film Awards), the big four;)-best film, director, screenplay and actor-Zlatko Burik !!!

https://variety.com/2022/film/awards/european-film-awards-2022-winners-1235456466/

Led Zeppelin - In Through the Out Door (1979)

I was alwasys fascinated with the last Led Zeppelin album,  In Through the Out Door (1979), see I was not contemponary with them so, as much as I was exposed to all I, II, III, IV, and in the eighties Houses of the Holy was was faved, this album stuck with me because it was their most eclectic, weird and it seems everyone hated it. Why? cos' they would not like them to play like that? or just philistines ;)....

from In the Evening to All of My Love through the greatest weirdola of 'em all, Carouselramba....with the keys that would define the 80's...maaan, I'm Gonna Crawl....

Anyhu, recently I got on on youtube a podcast of a Spanish guy, JCM (Jose Calvo Monturiol),  obsessed with this album, hid fave Zep LP, who wants to make justice to the album, and way more...He is a lifelong fan of Zep and a player in his own right. 

*****

There are seven episodes of In Through the Out Door (from 1974 to 1980, complete with the whole year events, up to the death of Bonham  (September 25th 1980) 

and also a new podcast of Post Zeppelin now, 1981-1989).  even more fasinating and still going on..loved the Michael Winner story ;).

The whole gig takes you to many hours of watching and listening and it's for the most super interrested freaks & geeks of LZ, It's super well documented and presented in such a nice way -personal and subjective-you gotta love it...or surely don't :)  I did. And I was talking about ot to all the guys I met and thought they can relate. So I thought this is a better way to present it and share it here. Just for the sake of music...

Thank you Jose for your passion, dedication and hard work, it was a pleasure (and a pain:) and a blast to watch and re-remember all and learn more....The song Remains the Same !!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g8Dq45nZOI&list=PLqsprcaJ7OIdEXU46JJjSFE2EP6t_ufPS

RIP Dan McCafferty (Nazareth)

 I saw Dan McCafferty twice with Nazareth. In Bucharest.

Then I saw them once more without him (2018). It sucked. 

Though Dan was so frail, his throat singing was so great. Hair of the Dog if it bit 1000 times...He was 76, Retired (or?) from Nazareth in 2013. Too much Razmatazzz :()

they played Sala Sporturilor in Brasov in the early nineties (the first ofem all coming). a buddy of mine tried to give them palinca upfront....wild...

This is the pic I took in February 2012 at Hard Rock Cafe in Bucharest.. I think he was on coke but hey. he did a great gig. 

hre's my account of that evening...and it was a very emotional one...

Where's my white bycicle? :(((

Amsterdam (2022)

Amsterdam is a really bad movie. One that does no mov(i)e, its overlong (2h14min), bloated and unfunny. Like a comedy made by people with no sense of humor. Oh but it's not a comedy. It's a conspiracy crime thriller as well. And an expensive period piece. And a true story apparently. (that should've been told differently for us to care). And so a flop. A sign about all that was that it didn't make it first in any festival as a film like this should've do and build up from there. 

Margot Robbie looks superb asa brunette but she is not part of a Jules and Jim, or Bande a part triangle. And Amsterdam should have stayed in... Amsterdam. Also it could've been called Timbuktu or any other city for that matter. Cos it's like a Proust Madelaine that Amsterdam here, cos' Paris was probably too much of a cliche (`we'll always have Paris` ya know).

I am just sorry I didn't write about it earlier (saw it two weeks ago already) so I could save some friends money as they went into the cinema and were flabbergasted. Sorry, my bad...

A wasted De Niro (he looks really old), over-the-top Christian Bale and not funny (again with a glass eye!) grotesque Rami Malek, John David Washington leaves me totally cold... a potential great cast totally wasted... Chris Rock has nothing to do but some poor comic relief, Mike Myers shows up right from his Inglorious Basterds cameo and Michael Shannon is wasted, oh did I wrote that three times already? 

David O Russell is not Wes Anderson, nor the Coen bros, neither Woody Allen which he tries to emulate in this loud pastiche, with ambitious and gorgeous cinematography by Emanuel Lubezki. Best asset of the film except Robbie's smile..

I am now fully convinced the director (also writer and producer) is totally overrated and not on my cup of Joe list. The only film of his i liked was Three Kings (1999), which is not really his film, as it was tinkerd by the stars (cllooney absolutely hated him and vice versa) in it and the studio (WB).  And screnwriter John Ridley who was betrayed and sued for his credit. Oh, and it seems also The Fighter (2010), cos' I just saw I wrote a very possitive review back then (in Romanian here), and I expressed then my opinion about him on Silver Linings Playbook in 2012 (also in Romanian :) Both these movies get lower grades now from me, I always tend to be more generous then and back in time (or maybe was just younger;).  For ex. American Hustle I tried to rewatch recently on prime streaming and gave up after 10 minutes. Oh, and there is Joy...did I really went and see that? In a cinema theatre no less...I'll be Amster-damned...

4 stars out of ten, 2 out of five. 

it'll show up on disney+ soon, so save the effort...

The Eagle Has Landed (1976)

¬This never happened.It dit not occur¬

TEHL/ The Eagle Has Landed (1976) is the last film directed by the Magificent Seven's John Sturges, as a fare to get more fishing money. That's what I've read now and I am sad about this-he didn't care about the post production at all, but the film still stands up, and it's a joyride!

The plot to kidnap Winston Churchill by a band of condamned German paratroopers in England in 1943...wow! Solid script by Tom Mankiewicz, based on a novel by Brtish writer Jack Higgins. 

It is one of my guilty pleasures:  faved ww tales of what if (Where Eagles Dare, Eye of the Needle,  Kelly's Heroes)  and the multi million studio bound all star cast  A Bridge too Far was made at the same time)

Rober Duvall pulls a lookalike heavy Stauftenberg, how the F*** the got him?, grand accent), reddish Donald Sutherland as Devlin, an Irish IRA member seems to have much fuun,

It stars also Donlad Pleasence as Himmler, and Anthony Quayle has a cameo as adimral Canaris, we dont get the fuhrer but we get his signature :)

and Jenny Agutter, yes:)

Michael Caine as colonel  Karl Steiner, the same Steiner that shows up in The Iron Cross and Steiner Iron Cross Part 2, played by James Coburn (great in Peckinph's only war movie), and Richard Burton in a gimme gin gig, how the heck the only German name is Steiner for all these?

and Larry Hagman, well J.r. as a commaning American officer with a moustache...

I bet Tarantino loves this...

Sir Micharel Caine said it and I was shattered..BS

In his autobiography, Sir Michael Caine confessed to being somewhat disappointed with the end product: "The picture was being directed by the Hollywood old-timer John Sturges, and we were all very pleased that this illustrious veteran had agreed to direct our film. That is, until one day when I was talking to him between set-ups and he informed me that, now that he was older, he only ever worked to get the money to go fishing, which was his passion. Deep-sea fishing off Baja, California, he added, which was very expensive. The moment the picture finished, he took the money and went. Producer Jack S. Wiener later told me that he never came back for the editing nor for any of the other post-production sessions that are where a director does some of his most important work. The picture wasn't bad, but I still get angry when I think of what it could have been with the right director. We had committed the old European sin of being impressed by someone, just because he came from Hollywood."

I was too, to find out this in 2022 :(

so Anne Coates (the editor) did the movie...

I also love the Lalo Schifrin score and

this gets better every time i revisit it.

It's now on you tube , you can watch it here -until it vanishes :)

Why the plot failed? 

¬I thought my plot failed cos' one of my man died saving the little girl over there¬

Steiner

I still think it's a great fun film and they don't do them like that anymore :( Caine, Duvall,Sutherland, Lalo, Sturges all in one, you gotta treasure that, it was 44 years ago...The Eagle had landed all right (remember the Saxon live album cover as well).

7 out ot 10, 3 1/2 out of five (would be a six but, hey :)

Halloween 2022 recommendations: The Cabinet of Curiosities, Halloween Ends, Barbarian, Pearl

Halloween 2022 recommendations 

that is if you haven't been trampled in (South ) Korea or you don't party with Elon Musk and the probably reptilian clique at Bran (Dracula's) Castle...

on netflix:

Guillermo Del Toro's The Cabinet of Curiosities 

an anthology of 8 stories, 8 different directors. Nice premieres, streaming two episodes per day in three days from Oct 25 to Oct 28. The best for me were The Viewing- directed by Panos Cosmatos (Beyond the Black Rainbow, Mandy), featuring a great Paul Weller (a clin d'oeil to his father 1983 cult film Of Unknown Origin that starred Peter Weller!) , Autopsy-d:David Prior (The Empty Man, Voir)  with a fantastic F.Murray Abraham and Lot 36-d: Guillermo Navarro (great DOP and tv director), with a downbeat dark Tim Blake Nelson, based on a short story by GdT himself. 

Del Toro didn”t direct any of the eight, he presents every story in person in a Hitchcock or Rod Sterling manner, .also a la Tales from the Crypt. He did write 2 short stories of wich two episodes are based, the second one being The Murmuring (directed y Jennifer Kent-The Babadock). 2 episodes are based on stories by Del Toro and all horror lover's favorite, H.P. Lovecraft - Pickman's Model (d by Keith Thomas-The Vigil) and Dreams in the Witch House (director Catherine Hardwicke-Twilight).

 Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home at Night, The Bad Batch) The Outside episode is a body horror satire with a brave acting performance by Kate Micucci that loses but all wind in an hour when it could've been half . In opossition with Lot 36 which is the shortest of the whole bunch (45 min) except the Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice) episode, Graveyard Rats. The shortest film at 37 mins, it is a classic and morbid take on Edgar Allan Poe's tropes and can be seen also in Glorious Black and White version (for this version scroll down on Episodes on the screen to the Trailer and More section). All stories are set in the past to capture the spirit and style of the genre. 

Uneven as all anthologies are but tones better than the recent netflix fare The Midnight Club for ex. Season two is okțd for next year. 

in cinemas and PPW:

Halloween Ends -actually not so bad, Halloween mixed with Stephen King's Christine and other King themes. Music by John Caprenter, his son Cody and Daniel Davies.

It will not be the last if you're worried, in a few years they'll reboot it again. But it will be definetly the last with Jamie Lee Curtis. Anyhu, John Carpenter says he doesn't care...

on Disney ! (yes Disney, from Fox)

Barbarian 

written and directed by Zach Cregger, an effective thriller with creepy undertones works in three different acts and surprises you best if you know less about the plot (i had no clues whatsoever when bro cuz' kinosseur recommended it to me ;)

shades of Wes Craven (People under the Stairs) and some similarities with Don't Breathe (derelict Detroit neighbourhood)

and from wherever you can get it:

Pearl, the prequel to X by Ti West ( and Mia Goth 

Scorsese loved it, me to..and some more, some none---

it's the real Blonde film. Talk about bravura acting (even more so than in X where she did both roles of Maxine and Pearl, can't wait for the sequel now-Maxxxine). 

Wizard of Oz meets Psycho (someone wrote -like if Shelley Duvall was playing Norman Bates) with a bit of alligator fare from Tobe Hopper's Eaten Alive (aka Death Trap)

technicolor Reds and some great oneshots plus the last shot you won't forget...

RIP Jerry Lee Lewis

”The Killer” is gone....The last of the only ones...Jerry Lee Lewis was 87...(born Sept. 29 1935) 

There was a hoax news about his death 3 days ago but now it is official :(

Saw him in Brasov at Cerbul de Aur / The Golden Stag in Brasov in a fantastic performance in 1993. 

Here is the video from Romanian television. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3XBSmtcVJ4

biopic: Great Balls of Fire ! with Dennis Quaid (d: Jim McBride,1989)

DocȘ Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind is the documentray by Ethan Coen that premiered in 2022 in Cannes film festival. He was not present there.

Lewis's publicist Zach Farnum said: "He was there at the beginning, with Elvis, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, and the rest, and watched them fade away one by one till it was him alone to bear witness, and sing of the birth of rock'n'roll."

Nicknamed the Killer, he has been described as "rock n' roll's first great wild man and one of the most influential pianists of the 20th century.

Blonde (2022)

Blonde, the Marilyn Monroe biopic that Netflix bought and premiered in Venice last month was one of the most expected films of the year. It proves to be most controversial, especially these days post feminism and post #metoo proved to be an UFO that doesn't do any good to Marilyn, Norma Jean or the myth of M.M. Ana de Armas pulls a heroic performance but I am biased the AMPAS will look at it for a win (UPSATE-but she got nominated!!! the only nod of the flick), the whole thing looks, feels and sounds like a stunt. The sex stuff doesn't help, it makes you feel dirty and definetly there was no need for NC 17, especially on a film streaming that can be watched by any child at the end of the remote control. 

https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/the-blonde-scene-with-ana-de-armas-some-viewers-say-went-too-far

Director and writer Andrew Dominik (adapting Joyce Carol Oates’ book) stumbles between black and white and color and it's an overlong  mess (2 hrs 47) that only pains and confuses. Also with a downbeat score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis that might have been written by anyone else but them (ex: Vangelis, Zimmer).

As a good friend said, ¬The Feel-bad movie of the year. Any year¬ :(((

Emily Ratajkowski accuses Marilyn Monroe film 'Blonde' of 'fetishizing female pain'

Godard Forever ! For Ever GODard !

Exact in ziua mortii lui Godard, inainte sa plec la Festivalul de la Buzau (Buzău Arts International Festival), dupa ce am publicat pe blog un scurt omagiu am apucat sa scriu si un articol pentru Revista Golan despre JLG. Am cerut citorva prieteni pe care ii stiam fani sa imi scrie citeva impresii despre el, despre filmul lor preferat de Godard. Am primit peste citeva zile raspunsul de la Golan ca e prea alambicat pentru ei, prea confuz, prea subiectiv, prea pentru "specialisti" si ca nu il vor publica.  Am mai incercat undeva, dar am mai primit un refuz. Am fost prea ocupat cu festivalul Transilvania Blues IV si altele ca sa mai incerc in alta parte, intre timp a trecut timpul dar am ramas dator cu publicarea, care din pacate va fi doar aici :( Le Mepris...)

Merci a vous !!!!

For Ever GODard*

gînduri despre Jean-Luc Godard și grupaj asamblat de Alin Ludu Dumbravă

*parafrazez titlul filmului său din 1996, For Ever Mozart.

***********

Godard est mort ! Vive Godard ! Viva le cinema ! 

Jean-Luc Godard a murit pe 13 septembrie 2022 la Rolle, în Elveția, unde locuia și al cărui cetățean era din timpul războiului, cînd se mutase acolo cu școala, de la Paris. Avea 91 de ani și a cerut o sinucidere asistată, practică legală în această țară. Un ultim gest-șoc al unei biografii controversate (vedeți Le Redoutable deMichel Hazenevicius-2018, alias Godard Mon Amour, despre tinerețea lui ”revoluționară”).

*

Filmele lui mari au fost pentru mine acum 30 de ani cînd am intrat la facultatea de film, A bout de souffle, Pierrot le fou (mai ales pentru Belmondo), Alphaville (de unde și-a luat numele trupa), Weekend (pentru carambolul de mașini plan-secvență), și Le mépris (cu acea față a lui Jack Palance și Fritz Lang-care a fost și afișul festivalului de la Cannes din 2016). Am văzut o mulțime de filme ale lui, pînă m-a pierdut complet. Adieu au Langauage ... Poți să îl contești cît vrei, Jean-Luc Godard a schimbat fața cinematografului. Numai genericele sale merită o enciclopedie. A fost poet, a fost punk, a fost dadaist, a fost deconstructivist, socialist, maoist, un inconoclast absolut. Este Nouvelle Vague prin excelență, alături de Truffaut, care a rămas un adept al cinema-ului clasic. Godard a început la Cahiers du Cinema, critic de film, apoi s-a apucat de film. Faimoasa afirmație, ”Tot ce îți trebuie să faci film e o cameră de filmat, o fată și o armă” a provocat scandaluri, a șocat și a inspirat generații de cineaști. Tarantino și-a numit compania sa de producție, A Band Apart, după titlul filmului lui Godard din 1964.

**

Am rugat cîțiva prieteni pe care îi știam fani ai regizorului, să îmi scrie 2-3 rînduri despre filmul lor preferat de Godard. Emanuel Pârvu a scris mult, fumos și intens. L-am lăsat la urmă.

***

Pentru mine filmul lui Godard de azi ar fi rarsisimul One plus One sau Sympathy for the Devil (1968) cu Rolling Stones în componența completă, adică Brian Jones și Bill Wyman included. Și cu muza lui Godard din acea vreme, Anne Wiazemsky. Un colaj de guerilla Revoluție neagră și voice over-uri politice, intersectat cu trupa în studio, care cîntă diferite variante ale piesei Sympathy for the Devil pînă la paroxism, un curio - o ciudățenie absolută, și pentru Godard, dar mai ales incredibilă pentru Stones!

Întreg filmul pe youtube aici:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISAyqrxTY4w

***

Andrei Crețulescu

critic, scenarist, regizor:

Le cinema c’était JLG.

Chiar dacă Le mépris, Pierrot le fou, Vivre sa vie, Bande à part, Week End sau Alphaville m-au, pe rînd, fascinat, emoționat, entuziasmat, dărîmat sau “ebluisat”, fac ce fac și mă întorc, din nou și din nou, la primul film. Cînd nu știam (nici unul dintre noi, sic!) că cinemaul se poate face și așa - așa cum nu știam că, 60 de ani mai tîrziu, continuăm s-o aflăm, tot de la el. Într-una dintre vacanțele la Paris, în preajma Crăciunului 2008, am ajuns, în fine, pe rue Campagne Prèmiere, și am rugat-o pe Codruța să mă filmeze în timp ce alergam gîfîind dintr-un capăt în celălalt. Ce să zic, à bout de souffle.

***

AntoineBagnaninchi

distribuitor film (Independența Film)

Pierrot le fou pentru liberatea sa, pentruBelmondo, Karina, Rimbaud și Fuller (Sam)

Une femme est une femme pentru bătălia pe titluri de cărți, Micul bar și ”Tu te laisses aller” de Aznavour.

Le Mepris pentru fesele lui Brigitte Bardot și pentru Fritz Lang.
Le Petit soldat pentru privirea camerei de filmat.
A bout de souffle pentru ”C'est dégueulasse”.

***

Bogdan Mureșanu

scenarist, regizor:

A bout de souffle pentru revoluția pe care pornit-o în limbajul cinematografic. Curajul formidabil, prin care a demolat si reconstruit arta povestirii in cinema, isi are zenitul in acest film. Nu știu cum a reușit, dar Godard și-a păstrat aura de intelectual rebel în vreme ce a devenit parte a canonului clasic. Posibil să fi fost chiar natura personalității sale în care extremele se întâlneau cu lejeritate sau, poate, influența sa a fost o metamorfoză totală, alterând definitiv modul în care privim o imagine.

Eva Pervolovici

regizor

Chipul savuros al lui Anne Wiazemsky umple ecranul. De ce am rămas cu filmul La Chinoise din filmografia lui Godard ? Cu siguranță, pentru această actriță de catifea și revoltă, strălucitoare în fața lui Jean-Pierre-Léaud. Și pentru o anumită inocență a lui Godard, fascinat de un maoism visat, inventat.

***

Mihaela Constantinescu

regizor, organizator festival (Buzău Arts InternationalFestival)

Masculin / Féminin este favoritul meu de la Godard, pentru că este un tablou a ceea ce îmi imaginez eu că era Parisul anilor '60, un spațiu al idealurilor, al artei, al filosofiei și al relațiilor tumultuoase, al cafenelelor pline de fum de țigară și de muzică. E Noul Val așa cum numai Godard a știut să îl facă, plin de politică, pop-culture și o luptă între cele două sexe, care apare des la el, dar mereu altfel și mereu proaspătă. Mă regăsesc, pe rând, în fiecare dintre personaje și m-aș uita la el cel puțin săptămânal. Iubesc Parisul cu pasiune și datorită lui Godard și îi sunt recunoscătoare pentru dragostea de film.

***

Emanuel Pârvu

actor, scenarist, regizor

Truffaut, Rivette, Rohmer, Chabrol și Godard. Dar mai ales Truffaut și Godard.

După Politica autorilor (Andre Bazin) – cu care am luat contact în facultate, am înțeles mai

bine ceea ce a făcut Godard pentru cinema. M-am gândit de multe ori ce înseamnă pentru un

actor să ia contact cu textul în ziua filmării – cât de profund se poate duce în înțelesul unui

personaj (sau mai bine spus – cât din realul lui poate fi înțeles de actor astfel încât să ridice la

verticala apariției orizontala textului de personaj). Spre deosebire de ceilalți regizori (cu care,

atunci când ești student încerci să empatizezi pur și simplu pentru că te gândești că ei fac

“artă și nu consum american“), când mi-am dat seama că Godard funcționeză mai mult după

regulile rescrise ale cinema-ului american, am avut inițial o respingere (atât am putut la vârsta

aia).

După ceva filme, după mai multă înțelegere, după Belmondo, după “jump-cuts”, după

Alphaville, după documentarul prin care m-a plimbat de la Picasso la Cassavetes, după

vorbirea cu spectatorii din “Pierrot le Fou“ (lucru care, de fapt, m-a apropiat cel mai mult de

Godard, simțindu-mă, într-un fel, conectat la convenția teatrală cu care eram mai obișnuit),

Godard m-a captivat într-un fel pe care nu aș putea să-l descriu formal. Un soi de captivitate

dorită, un soi de admirație fără respect, un soi de respect fără dorință de a copia.

Evident că pentru majoritate, când zici Godard zici “A bout de souffle“ (așa cum zici Truffaut

– 400 cents coups sau Resnais – Hiroshima mon amour), dar aș avea o mențiune – și pentru

mine este o mențiune foarte onorabilă (poate și pentru că l-am văzut după terminarea

facultății, când lucrurile sunt mai așezate) este Alphaville.

Zic asta pentru că am văzut aceiași actori la diferiți regizori și în general cam știi ce și cât pot.

Și îți poți da seama de calitățile unui regizor când vezi un actor pe care îl știi din alte filme –

cât a reușit să ducă acolo. Pe Eddie Constantine îl văzusem înainte la Fassbinder (jucându-se

pe sine, deși filmul germanului e făcut la vreo câțiva ani după Alphaville) și la Lars von Trier

(în Europa). Deși văzesem doar unul dintre filmele în care l-a jucat pe Lemmy Caution (și

care cred că era ceva de consum din perioada franceză a anilor ’50), am realizat magia pe

care o poate aduce un regizor mare asupra unui actor. Iar pentru mine acela a fost un moment în

care m-am îndrăgostit de Godard iremediabil.

A, și, pe Netflix România !!! găsiți cinci filme de Godard, Carabinierii, Made in USA, Detective, Prenom Carmen și Helas pour moi (sub titlul Oh Woe is Me). Pour les kinosseurs :)

RIP Jean-Luc Godard

 ....a bout de souffle...

la un an dupa starul lui din acel film,  si din Pierrot le Fou, Jean Paul (Belmondo), 

s-a dus si Jean-Luc...

Godard...

Avea 91 de ani. A schimbat limbajul cinematografic, pour le grand et pour le pire. 

In 2018 la Cannes a fost prezenat filmul lui Hazanavicius despre el tinar, Le Redoutable, despre care am scris aici.

Pe Netflix Romania !!! gasiti 5 filme ale sale, Les Carabinieres, Made in USA, Prenom Carmen, Detective si Helas pour moi (Oh Woe is Me). 

Necrolog in The Guardian aici

The Last Movie Stars (2022)

The Last Movie Stars

a six hour/six part film by Ethan Hawke

about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward

Documentary of the Year and more than that...

Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)

Three Thousand Years of Longing e al 11-lea film al lui George Miller ! 

De vazut la cinema !

aici cronica mea in revista Golan !

https://revistagolan.com/three-thousand-years-of-longing-3000-de-ani-de-dorinta/

septembrie 5, 2022

„(Filmul e) un soi de anti-Mad Max, în sensul în care are mult mai mult dialog decît laconicul Fury Road. Acesta a fost filmat în locație în deșerturile din Africa de sud. (3000) a fost făcut în interior, cu cîteva scene de exterior. E un film mic ca fizicalitate, chiar dacă se întinde în peste 3000 de ani. Dar așa cum Fury Road e o poveste care se întâmplă în trei zile și două nopți, acest film are loc în peste 3000 de ani, și la asta mă refer cînd îl numesc anti Mad Max.” (George Miller)

S-ar putea afirma cu certitudine că australianul George Miller e un regizor eclectic. Dincolo de odiseea Mad Max în patru filme, a făcut două Happy Feet, animație cu pinguinii dansatori, un Babe (Pig in the City), Lorenzo’s Oil și Vrăjitoarele din Eastwick. Are acum 77 de ani. Acesta este al 11-lea lui film. 

În 2015, Mad Max: Fury Road are premiera la Cannes. Lumea filmului se schimbă, e o revelație absolută. Unanim este considerat unul din cele mai bune filme făcute vreodată, recompensat și cu 6 premii din 10 nominalizări la Oscar. Așa cum filmul acesta i-a luat 30 de ani, 3000 de ani de dorință a durat, se pare, 22 de ani.

Este un proiect vechi drag lui, adaptare după o povestire de scriitoarea britanică A.S. Byatt din 1994, The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye. Miller a cumpărat drepturile imediat după publicare. Scenariul l-a scris împreună cu fiica sa, Augusta Gore. Și când întreg universul se așteaptă să continue seria Mad Max, el anunță acest proiect. Și vine pandemia. De unde trebuia să se filmeze la Londra și Istanbul, se mută totul în Australia. Cu întârziere de doi ani e filmat cu o echipă restrînsă și multe efecte de post-producție. Premiera are loc la Cannes 2022, în afara competiției (Miller a fost aici șeful juriului în 2016). 

E un film despre Poveste, narațiune, dorințe, singurătate, iubire și sacrificiu. Un naratolog englez, Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swindon), găsește o sticluță în bazar când se află la o conferință în Istanbul și eliberează un Djinn (Idris Elba), care vrea să îi îndeplinească, firesc, cele trei dorințe mitice. Urmează o povestire în stil 1001 de nopți. Despre dorință, curgerea timpului, regret și, din nou, iubire. Alegerea actorilor e ciudată, nu sunt staruri, sunt ambii englezi, iar Swindon este o vedetă arthouse, actriță impecabilă, dar numele ei nu vinde filme. Elba a trebuit să învețe texte ciudate, în limbi dispărute, academic, în afara machiajului și a efectelor speciale care îl însoțesc pe Djinn. 

3000 e extrem de livresc, introspectiv, melancolic, poate puțin prea moralist. Se vorbește mult (prea mult…), se povestește, din flashback în flashback, filmul întîmplându-se mai mult într-o cameră de hotel (303, acolo unde în Istanbul Agatha Christie ar fi scris Crima din Orient Express). De altfel, cifra trei e omniprezentă. 

Posibil cel mai personal film al lui Miller (care e obsedat de semnificația Poveștii în viața noastră și istoria omenirii), 3000 e asemănător cu universul lui Terry Gilliam (mai ales Munchausen în episoadele otomane), cu The Fall al lui Tarsem, cu elemente din Hoțul din Bagdad, Aladdin, 1001 de nopți (compania aeriană se numește Scheherazade). Imaginea e superbă, John Seale, director de imagine australian retras din activitate (are 80 de ani), care a revenit la Fury Road, a fost convins de Miller să mai facă un film. Atmosfera e susținută de muzica lui Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL), la antipodul celei compuse pentru Mad Max, care conchide cu piesa elegiacă Cautionary Tale, pe vocea lui Matteo Bocelli. ”Is it wrong for me to say/That love is a cautionary tale?/‘Let’s try’ is your reply/‘Though love can always fail.”

În peisajul pauper al filmelor bune din cinema, 3000 de ani de dorință e un film aparte, o curiozitate, film intimist, și cum spun francezii, un gateau (desert special, prăjitură). 

De văzut pe marele ecran.