10.13.08
Posted in double feature, drama, reviews at 11:31 am by FilmFemme
“Who the fuck is Omar Benson Miller?” you may be asking. If you’re asking, then you clearly haven’t seen a movie with any black people in it in the last few years, because he has been in a bunch of them. He’s the huge one. Seriously, HUGE. 6′6″ and over 300lbs. He also happens to have had very prominent roles in the 2 recent black people movies that I saw.
Miracle at St. Anna
Black guys fight in WWII. And have sex with white women. And befriend a small Italian boy who may or may not be Jesus.
The Express
Black guys are good at football. People from Texas are racist. So are people from Syracuse, but not quite so much.
And sometimes really good football players get Leukemia and die before they get to play in the NFL. It’s probably not because they are black, though. Probably.
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10.05.08
Posted in armchair marketing, drama at 3:51 pm by FilmFemme
I’m really quite excited about Milk, the upcoming Harvey Milk biopic, being a very big fan of the director Gus Van Sant and also, a very big fan of the trailer. What I really love about it, the part that makes me remember it, is the blue block letters on white backgrounds. The background is shiny and white like a fresh coat of glossy paint on cement blocks. Somehow cool to the touch and solid, but also strangely familiar and inviting. I don’t know, I think it’s really kind of beautiful though. And this movie is going to be great, I think, I hope.
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10.03.08
Posted in indie, comedy, drama, reviews at 2:32 pm by FilmFemme
A Note: If you haven’t seen Synecdoche, New York and plan to, you may not want to read this right now. You can, if you must, I wrote it and posted it after all. But some of the things that surprised me about this film were beautiful and meaningful because they were surprises. It comes out on October 24th!
Charlie Kaufman. A writer’s writer. A filmmaker’s writer. A creative force to be reckoned with, who uses characters and words and dreamlike scenarios so effecively to explore what can only be recognized as universal truths, pervasive neuroses, collective fears. Even in this paltry blog entry, that no one will really read and ultimately means nothing, I find myself trying to grasp at words that might make me feel like I could put myself in the same “writer” column where he exists, but I fail.
His latest effort, 2 hours that follow Philip Seymour Hoffman as a struggling playwright and director is, well, I’m always reluctant to use phrases like “nothing short of a masterpiece” especially in reference to something as big as this film. I’d have to see it again before risking that kind of hackery. Anyhow, the exposition of the film sees Caden Cotard’s (Hoffman) first marriage to a smart and restless artist (Catherine Keener) deteriorate until she leaves him, taking their daughter Olive (played by Sadie Goldstein at 4 and later by Robin Weigart). At the same time, his health begins to fail. Trips to the neurologist, unpredicted seizures, rotting teeth. Caden struggles on, directing small plays in a small town (Schenectady, of the title, sort of) and attempting a dalliance with the beautiful, somewhat bohemian free spirit, Hazal (a fiery-haired Samantha Morton). The romance is doomed from the start as Caden has yet to accept the demise of his marriage, but suddenly he is awarded a MacArthur “genius” grant whereupon he is determined to do something big, significant, and most importantly, truthful. The rest of the film follows Caden’s move to New York City where he rents a warehouse and hireds scores of actors to recreate the drama that is his life and in turn, their own. The sets are elaborate, multistoried recreations. He marries the lead actress, Claire (Michelle Williams) and they, too have a daughter, Ariel. His entire life is consumed by this play that has all the elements of something grand and important — except for an audience.
Read the rest of this entry »
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10.01.08
Posted in armchair marketing at 2:07 pm by FilmFemme
(from the LATimes on 10/1/08)
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