Late Bloomers (2011, 83% / Good) *Now with photos!
A late bloomer. Isn’t that someone who takes a while to adjust to the way things are, to the more sophisticated world or to the bigger picture that envelops their actions? I’ve always associated it with rather young people — those coming out of their teens and still getting a grip on the rest of life.
In this film, there are two late bloomers, and Mary and Adam are about to hit the Big Six Zero. Read More…
Once Upon a Mattress: a mixed review (movie 64%, play 77%)
Observing the differences between a film and a play based off the same story is interesting. I was the light operator for a local rendition of Once Upon a Mattress put on by Théâtre de Jeunesse (tay-at-ruh-de-szhun-ess! Theatre of Youth, henceforth called TDEJ) in Marietta OH and it was while working tech that I learned of the 2005 TV movie. The differences are many. Read More…
Breaking & Entering (2006), 77% / Good, Second Viewing
A movie with Jude Law acting as an architect that buys Macs that Rafi Gavron steals. What’s not to like?
Rafi Gavron is an actor I’ve followed since watching him in Nick & Norah’s Infinte Playlist (2008, 70% / Good). In Breaking & Entering he, Miro, is the son of Amira (Juliette Binoche, Elles), a Bosnian woman who fled the warring in her hometown Sarajevo, losing the rest of her family on the way. Read More…
Farinelli (1994), 83% / Great
It’s the mid 1700s. You are a young boy, and boy can you sing. Your voice is a treasure. Thus, it must be guarded. But it is not your treasure — it is a treasure of the audience. The only way to guard it is for your voice to not grow into a man’s. You are castrated.
Visually, this film gave me the feeling of colour being painted into a ‘white nightmare’. It’s very abstract. White is a symbol in this film; the colour is laid upon it. Perhaps this makes more sense when one sees the actual scenes of Carlo (the titular Farinelli; Stefano Dionisi) recovering from his castration. Read More…
The Change-Up (2011), 63% / Meh
I watched this movie a few days ago, so I don’t remember too much. Just a month ago, I would have hastily added “because there was really nothing to remember”.
Now imbued with some intense Buddhism from the meditation retreat I finished a week and a half ago, I have a different perspective on Hollywood, which surprised even myself.
Status Update (Less Movies, More Blogs?)
News:
At the beginning of June I took a trip to visit family and from the 6th to 17th I attended a meditation course (which requires its own blogpost on a new blog (!)), thus a total inability to watch/critique movies due, respectively, to either spending time with family or the complete annihilation of technology from life. Read More…
Hiatus
Vacationing. No updates until after June 18.
Reds (1971), 77%
77%, good.
Reds is a long, evocative film, and I came away with a few different lines of thought.
First, I have always been attuned to music, especially in films. My iTunes library has more scores than ‘albums’. Music itself has the power to be transformative, so what happens when it is incorporated masterfully in a film? It transcends words and description. Read More…
Côte d’Azur (Crustacés & coquillages), 77%
77%, good.
This is a cute French film about a slightly-dysfunctional French family vacationing at a stereotypical French countryhome.
The father, Marc (Gilbert Melki) hasn’t been there for 25 years (it was bequeathed to him by his aunt) and he is attempting to enjoy it with his wife, Béatrix (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi). The kids could care less: the son, Charly (Romain Torres), just wants his hot showers because the sea’s too cold; the daughter, Laura, has already made plans with a Portuguese biker, whose attractive derrière Béatrix points out as her daughter and the man bike away. And when the hot showers fail, in comes the plumber, Dider (Jean-Marc Barr). Read More…
Solaris (1972), 80%
80%, good.
To some, Solaris might be known as Russia’s 2001. There are similarities, largely in the world depicted: space, its unknown, and the sentience that comes with it. However, while 2001 is external-oriented, Solaris is internal — it’s not about them or that or it. Solaris is about us. Read More…
Cinema 52 