SolarSystem wrote:

stoertebeker wrote:

I saw the Minton movie yesterday. It was... well... OK, but overall disappointing by comparision to Despicable Me.

Well, what could ever compete with this:



 

 


One of my all-time favorite anime-scenes 

Besides that's exactly like me while snuggling my cats. They are sooo fluffy too!

That sounds like a really sweet moment.

We saw Selma last night and enjoyed it thoroughly. 

Ceertainly I think David Oyelowo deserved an Oscar nom for best actor and even perhaps Carmen Ejogo for best supporting actress. 

But the definite star of this production is Oyelowo and he steps up to the plate and hits it out of the park as far as I am concerned. 

The direction of Ava DuVernay is excellent as well so I could also say that she should have been acknowledged by the Academy, but it wasn't to be.

Too bad.

The story builds with such a driving rhythm to the climatic speech on the steps of the State Capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama that it is almost overwhelming in its emotionality.  There are some absolutely stunning scenes though beforehand - the moments just before the bombing of the church in which four beautiful, innocent children were killed in Selma; the heart-wrenching scene of King being sung to by Mahalia Jackson over the phone in his darkened kitchen - only to be counterpointed by the inclusion of the text that informs us that the FBI was taping this intensely personal communication; the lovely scene where Coretta King goes to Martin when he is in a jail cell and talks to him about her meeting with Malcolm X... and many more.

And it did most certainly deserve the Oscar for best original song - the ending montage shown over the song Glory was a wonderful way to end the film.

Highly, highly recommend it - as someone who lived through and will never forget the emotion of that time.

-Val

Perfect summary! I love this film (and I love Colin anyways) and I think the fact that it was shot with one very simple camera makes it so much more credible than it would have seemed in a perfectly set up scenery.  Many people have criticised the slowness with which the narrative moves forwards; I think it is just the right pace for telling such a story.

Ah-chie wrote:

We watched a very interesting movie last night with Colin Firth in it called Genova released in 2008.

It also starred Catherine Keener, an actress who I have followed for some time now and seems to always choose quirky roles (I know her best from her work with Steven Soderbergh's Full Frontal, but she is probably better known for Being John Malkovich).

It was a very small project and not released in the US in theatres (only in DVD in 2011 after The King's Speech's Oscars) and I can't find any records on the internet of how it did in non-domestic North American markets (it was released theatrically in foreign markets but seemed just to mainly do the film festival circuits rather than do a wider release).  

It isn't a commercial film that's for sure.  Shot in an almost pure hand-held, "home movie" style it has a rough quality about it that just wouldn't go down big with a wide audience (it reminds me of Full Frontal in this way).  That isn't to say it is amateurish - not at all!  It has great depth and care in every shot.  The director, Michael Winterbottom (who also co-wrote the screenplay), is a veteran of being nominated for a Palme d'Or at Cannes and is responsible for a couple of very fine films including Welcome to Sarajevo, The Shock Doctrine and A Mighty Heart).  

This film tells the story of a teacher (Firth) whose wife dies in a car accident while driving on an icy road with her two children.  We find out very quickly that the youngest daughter was responsible for the accident (which is the first unconventional aspect of this film - there are many more) but it wasn't malicious - just a immature 9 year old being impulsively silly and willful.  This tragic event has tremendous ripples of effect on everyone in the film in many different ways.  The father is not privy (nor does he ever become) to the secret of what the younger daughter actually did (cause the death of her mother) - he thinks her behaviour after the accident is just survivour guilt and tries his best to help her cope with the loss of her mother (he is very sympathetic and understanding and even has sought professional help for her in the form of counselling).

The older sister, while not betraying the younger one's secret, makes sure her sibling knows that she ruined the family (and her in particular) and acts resentful and sullen about the all-encompassing sympathy that the nine year old receives from the father. 

Firth's character is lonely, sorrowful, and searching for some normalcy in his life. 

He accepts a teaching position in Genova Italy and moves his family there.  He meets up with an old lover/colleague from Harvard (Keener) who is eager to get closer to him and his family.  But the tensions within and outside the family (from being in a totally foreign environment) bring about obstacles throughout the film. 

I loved how the acting was so natural and the eerie atmosphere (achieved through unusual camera angles and a super clear sound track that exaggerated even the slightest of sounds).  Firth was perfect as the dedicated father trying desperately to keep his daughters close to him and protect them from any dangers.  The two girls were spot on as his daughters - Willa Holland as the sometimes snotty, resentful teen who is pushing the boundaries of her father's love and understanding and Perla Haney-Jardine as the haunted, precocious younger daughter.  

Keener also shines as the pal who pushes too much and too fast to worm her way into this troubled family's life. 

This isn't a "thriller" in the normal sense.  There isn't the usual frantic pace you would expect in a Hollywood movie.  But this film is rife with tension and intense moments that almost leave you breathless at times.  When Firth is charging through a darkening woods screaming out his missing youngster's name, straining to see if she is there - you can't help but feel terror in your heart that he will never find his lost little girl.  When Mary (the youngest daughter) wakes up crying in a night terror with the hidden guilt from causing her mother's death - you know she is truly a haunted child. 

Anger, loss, guilt and loneliness is clearly on display and evident on screen in the story and in the acting in this film.

It isn't a tidy story but it isn't a complete tragedy either.  It probably is one of Firth's finest performances.  Yes, I think I have seen enough of his work to say it is definitely the best work he has ever done.  Not that you will even find it on Box Office Mojo in the list of his movies.  Pity... more people should have seen this.

Highly recommended by me.

-Val


 

Yitzock, thanks for mentioning the film, I wasn't even aware that there is a new Pixar movie...
I really love Pixar. I've seen them all and of course some are better than others, but there is not one Pixar movie that I didn't like. They all have their special charme, even "Cars" which I was very sceptical about.
Last weekend we watched "Toy Story 3" and "Up" again, and what can I say: It's animation and I have to cry. It's unbelievable, but when the toys are in that incineration plant, convinced that they will all die and they take each other's hands... wow, this always makes me cry. It's so powerful!
And the same with "Up". Apart from the fact that I absolutely love how the main character looks like Spencer Tracy and the baddie looks like Kirk Douglas, I find that sequence in which we see Carl and Ellie get married and grow old together until Ellie dies so real and moving and emotional and just... perfect. Not one word is spoken, but you can see and feel their whole story... it's brilliant.
Pixar never ceases to amaze me.

Yes, they are two of my favourite Pixar movies, too. I also love Wall-E and Finding Nemo very, very much.
And in general, I love the fact that all of their movies basically have the same message and it never gets boring or feels repetitive: It'salways about friendship and how you're better off when you're having people around you who love you and help you and will always stick with you through thick and thin.

@SolarSystem Yeah, I agree with that, as well.  THey find ways of making similar messages go down differently with their creative worlds.  I like Wall-E and and Finding Nemo a lot as well.  I also really like Ratatouille.

@Mattlocked I have seen a number of the shorts, having seen the movies that they went with, but while I have seen their first film Luxo Jr., I had not seen Red's Dream in the past or even heard of it.

While we were in Australia we went to the cinema one night and saw Last Cab to Darwin.

Wonderful movie and I highly recommend it if you like character study movies. 

It was about an older cab driver who is told he has very little time to live and he decides to drive to Darwin to make use of the fact that euthanasia clinics were legal (in the time frame that the movie was set in) and end his suffering on his own terms.

Along the way he meets a variety of differnt characters and there are also calls back to his hometown to a woman who is his neighbour there. 

Excellent cast and great location shooting all the way through the film.

My highest recommendation. One other thing to note: it was the first time that we ever were given a "private" showing... we were the only two people in the cinema.  We have come close a couple of times in the past (Philomena for one) but never before were we the only ones present to watch an entire movie.  Maybe the show was near the end of its run so that would explain it, but I did feel that it was more of an art house film so the targeted audience might be rather a sparc one at best.  Too bad - it was a great film!

-Val

I've heard very good things about that film and I shall watch it. I don't mind horror at all, although the more psychological it is the scarier!

I had no idea Christopher Eccelston was in anything recent.

This week our film club at school watched Ex Machina.  It was a film I had been wanting to see since it came out this summer, but I never got the chance.
While it had some good parts, it left me feeling disappointed.  There were things that were interesting that I thought did not get enough time spent on them and other parts that were not so interesting that took up too much time.
The ending was kind of surprising, but I still didn't like it.

And then there was this conversation that the guy has with the AI's creator, asking her why she had to have sexuality and then immediately afterwards asking why she has to have a gender.  The way it was phrased, it was like they were conflating the two, which it's not right and a movie from this past year should not have that mistake in it.  And just the general lack of knowledge of female sexuality that her creator has...just ick.  I'm tired of the narrative of "guy falls in love with AI." It worked in Her, but for this it didn't.  For spoilers, I won't say how that's twisted in the story, but for part of the story I was like "Come on, really? Again?"