SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK has been out for awhile, and I finally got a chance to see it. I felt it started off as a semitough look at mental illness, then turned into a crazy-guy fantasy where everything around was surreal and absurd. Played straight by all, and played well, one can still see this as a well made Hollywood/Weinstein Brothers Oscar nabber. Call me cynical, but nevertheless I was entertained and director David O Russell did a good job with the material as it was. I preferred THE FIGHTER, THREE KINGS and going way back SPANKING THE MONKEY by him, but this film with its good box office and Oscar buzz should allow him to return to more daring fare. Bradley Cooper was pretty good, and Jennifer Lawrence can add another feather to her cap for her work here.
James Fazzaro
A JMF Filmworks Compendium and Showcase
Campbell’s Soup “Better Now”
I worked as a production assistant/crew member on this MOFILM/Orange Crush commercial for Kevin and Gina Anton. Fast paced and fun experience!
Die Hard 5: Live Free or Die Hard
So I attempted and failed to sit through the entirety of A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD. I got about 35-40 minutes in, felt my brain screaming in agony and listened to it. Got my refund. Did my laundry with said refund. A far more useful application of that money.
Do you reaaaallllyyy want a review? Ok. It’s an abject piece of shit. Nonstop wall to wall car crashes and scraping of metal on metal or concrete. Writing that would shame a third grader, unless they are already being bred and taught that stupid in school. Bruce Willis looking tired, bored and waiting to collect a big paycheck, which I’m sure is where a significant portion of the budget went that didn’t go towards car crashes and explosions. Director John Moore should be kicked in the balls, as he gave no shape, sense, wit or context to any of his videogame shots. I won’t even ask how much good money was pumped into this lifeless zombie fodder.
Believe me, it hurt how bad it was. It was a retarded playground for Russian vehicles to get smashed to pieces. Absolutely no regard for any human element whatsoever, though that has diminished since the 2nd film. No wit, no glee. All perfunctory and manufactured, thought up by a computer that had ingested too many action films and THOUGHT it knew how to make one on its own. Soulless garbage. I don’t know what else to say. Shit. Utter shit. I don’t walk out of films EVER unless there are techincal issues, and this looked and sounded flawless. The sheer insipidity was stunning.
Here’s an alternate plot: John McClane is sent in to rescue original director John McTiernan from prison, who is currently serving a year for perjury in a Rollerball wiretap case (that was some fun drama!), and then together they storm 20th Century Fox with machine guns and wipe out the clueless executives in charge. I cannot say this would make a better film, but a lot of executives would be dead, until more were manufactured at the Hollywood Executive Factory.
Go see LOOPER instead. I’m sure it’s out now on Bluray and streaming, and Mr. Willis gave a good performance there, in a film that had a real sense of time, place, and character. And this was a time travel film to boot.
Die, DIE HARD franchise. Rot in hell.
SUNYATA
A lowly housepainter, despairing of his current state, ventures away from civilization and into the surrounding wilderness. He looks back at his past and prepares for an uncertain future while the forces of darkness and banality close in upon him. Will he find enlightenment in the untamed world, or will he succumb to madness?
This film was started in 2000 and has finally been brought to completion in January 2012. It has been a long and often daunting journey, but now at last it can be shown to you, the viewing audience.
Written and Directed by: Dane Webster
Starring: Dane Cansdale Webster
Produced by: Dane Webster and James Fazzaro
Photographed and Edited by: James Fazzaro
Music Composed by: Stuart Dahlquist
Shot on Kodak Super 8 Plus X and Tri X filmstocks on a Canon 1014 XLS camera
Edited on Newtek VT5 and Speededit software
Film to Video Transfer: Cinepost
Sound Post: Levi Seitz, Blackbelt Mastering
Amore
I just returned from seeing Michael Haneke’s AMORE, which earlier last year won the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival. This was not the reason I went to see it.
I have seen three of his earlier films: THE PIANO TEACHER, which I detested; TIME OF THE WOLF, a post-apocalyptic film stripped of artifice that I admired; and THE WHITE RIBBON, which was an excellent study of dark German history. My summaries are terribly vague, though I’d invite you to see them. I will warn that his approach to storytelling is rigorous, hard and quite clinical at times, though this is not a fully accurate depiction of his work. It is better to say that he does not allow sentiment to cloud his presentation, and this is why I was very keen to see how he portrayed his latest film which deals with old age, dementia and death.
Jean-Louis Trintignant plays Georges, who is married to Anne, played by Emmanuelle Riva. They are an elderly French couple, avid music lovers enjoying their retirement. Early on in the film she suffers a stroke, and he promises to care for her and not bring her into a hospital or nursing home, which she is dearly afraid of. Over the course of the film, she deteriorates and grows less verbal and less aware, and he isolates them both from the rest of the world, even trying to prevent their daughter (Isabelle Huppert) from seeing her mother. His love for her becomes a shield, perhaps a rebuke to reality, and eventually the stress grows too great for him to handle.
If I haven’t lost you completely by this point with this grim summary, I would recommend this film for its even handed depiction of homecare, with many long running tableux shots that calmly and nonjudgmentally witness the minute and intimate details of cleaning, feeding, and emotional distress that he endures. Both actors bring complete sincerity to their roles, with Ms. Riva’s transformation from a whole person to a human husk being very deep and especially painful to watch. Not a whiff of soap opera, treacle or maudlin tearjerking is present, and this makes for a tough and revealing film. I will be processing it for some time, there are a lot of things to mull over.
Zero Dark Thirty
I went to see ZERO DARK THIRTY today at the Manville Reading Cinemas today. There has been a lot of talk about the political ramifications of this film, notably with the opening torture scenes, but I felt that it was rather objective in its depiction of everything. And I mean everything. Not a whiff of jingoism or liberalism to be had, and for the contemporary war/conflict film this is the right way to do it.
A laser focused Jessica Chastain plays the quiet yet super-determined CIA operative sent out into the field in 2003 to hunt for Osama Bin Laden, and the film shows the laborious process of intelligence gathering over the course of nearly a decade she is involved in. Not an action heavy film, but the climactic raid is extremely well choreographed, and there are many prolonged passages of tension and anticipation spread throughout.
Kathryn Bigelow has followed up THE HURT LOCKER with another excellent study of modern warfare. I am very impressed with her reportage/documentary style of filmmaking she has explored in both films. She has evolved tremendously as a director and is very sure of her approach and execution. Recommended for adults who like serious entertainment about real adults, and not the 30-40 something children who populate Hollywood’s purported “adult” enterprises.
Les Miserables
Many years ago I went on a class trip to see Les Miserables on Broadway, and it was a great experience. The excellent songs, the caliber of acting, the bawdy comedy and heartfelt tragedy, the grand theatricality of it all. I have rarely ventured to see Broadway shows since, but it was the highest example of what the medium can acheive.
Today I took my mother to see LES MISERABLES the film. The Oscar contender, the critical darling, the Hollywood spectacle. She enjoyed it very much, having never seen the musical or heard its fantastic score, and I am very glad for that. But was I as moved?
I cannot say I wasn’t, in some spots and by certain scenes, greatly impressed and inspired to creative fancies during the screening. Any film that can fuel my own muse is certainly one to be recommended. Yet the stop-start, on again off again nature of this production hampered my consistent enjoyment. Slathered as it was in blood, grime and sweat, in an effort to bring a gritty reality of sorts to this theatrical super-production, somehow made it feel even more artificial.
The actors were overall fine, though as singers some were under the assumption that a ragged half-spoken presentation would convey the turmoil of the moment better than a straightforward clean craftsmanship. The women fared better than the men in that regard, notably Samantha Barks as Eponine, who in her moments was very touching. The comedic elements, most certainly the Innkeeper and his wife, who in the musical were hilariously low humans, felt shortchanged and undercut here. No offense to Sacha Baron Cohen or Helena Bonham Carter, it was more in the presentation, which was more successful in the dramatic and romantic aspects.
I will ponder this film for a bit, mining my memories of it for my own creative purposes. But I won’t say that I was captivated by it. That would be lying.
Film Review: Moonrise Kingdom
Wes Anderson has done it again with his latest film MOONRISE KINGDOM (2012), a lovely piece of work that I will likely see again in theatres.
Set in 1965 on an island off the New England coast, we follow young Khaki scout Sam (Jared Gilman) and hapless Suzy (Kara Hayward) as they flee from their troubled lives in search of idyllic peace. They find love, adventure and finally peace with their lives.
Yes, that’s the short of it. A lot happens, but I’d rather you saw the film for yourselves, it’s not laziness on my part I assure you. I feel it’s the best live action film Wes Anderson has done since Rushmore, certainly the most heartfelt and untouched by the growing preciousness of his latter films. And after his experience on Fantastic Mr. Fox (which was most excellent), I can see even more animation technique slip into his live action work, to terrific storybook effect. Once again he has summoned a terrific cast to fill out the adult parts (Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis, Ed Norton, Tilda Swinton), and his sure-handed direction of his child actors has not let up at all. Cinematographer Robert Yeomen does wonders with the Super 16 film format, it works so perfectly for the visual palette of this film. Composer Alexander Desplat once again provides enchanting music, he’s one of the best modern composers around period.
Go see it! It has real magic to it, and we need more fantasies in our lives.
Viewed on July 1st, 2012 at the Montgomery Cinemas in Skillman NJ
Film Review: Brief Encounter
David Lean directed BRIEF ENCOUNTER in 1945, adapted from a play by Noel Coward. It details the short-lived yet life changing affair that housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) has with Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard) when they run into one another at a railway station refreshment room. Told in flashbacks and flashforwards, Laura narrates throughout, troubled by her guilt yet enthralled by the passion she feels for Alec.
By today’s standards this romance is rather tame, confined to dining out, going to the movies and having a few furtive kisses in the darkness. It is quite verbal and often witty in spots, which is understandable given its roots as a stageplay, but Mr. Lean opens it up and gives the story lots of air to breathe in, moving through time and space expertly and effectively. Both actors are low key and not prone to histrionics, and one can see that quiet desperation mounting as they realize that their love cannot be consumated, giving a melancholy longing to the proceedings. Compared to latter works like DR. ZHIVAGO and LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, this is a small story told on an intimate and humane level, and I appreciate that very much.
For filmgoers going back in time, Brief Encounter is a stop worth making. All aboard!
Viewed on June 26th, 2012 on DVD (Criterion) in Somerville NJ
James Fazzaro 