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spectralarchers · 4 years ago

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hey christine!! i’m not a first-language french-speaker by i’ve been taking french courses for a few years so i can string a few sentences together, and i’m wondering if you have any french tv shows (or films!) that you really like that you’d recommend? maybe like something police/law procedural or crime drama esque? so far i’ve got secret histoires jotted down on a list and not much else. anyway! ((no pressure!!!!)) <333 sending much love!! <3

Hi, Nonnie!

That sounds absolutely fabulous, I’m so glad that you’ve decided to give French a go, and I can only admire your courage (as a native French speaker, the French language still fucks with me sometimes, lol). Props to you!

Secrets d’histoire is absolutely FANTASTIC - they’re great, and Stéphane Bern articulates particularly well, so his enunciation makes everything great. I think I have the one on Beethoven stashed away somewhere too!

Here’s a non-exclusive list of French things you’re always welcome to try and watch:

Movies/documentaries:

Avis de Mistral, a movie with Jean Reno that takes place in the South of France, where two youths from Paris are sent to their grandfather. There’s a lovely little deaf boy and some really emotional beats in it, I highly suggest it!

La Promesse de l’Aube, with Pierre Niney, a biographical motion picture about Romain Gary

Le Pacte des Loups, a weird fantasy / realistical take on the myth of the Beast of Gévaudan (it has nudity and violence, so be aware of warnings before watching it, it can fuck with you if you’re not careful)

Yves Saint-Laurent, with Pierre Niney, about the fashion designer of the same name

Gims (Netflix), a French language documentary about the rapper Gims and his career with Sexion d’Assaut and becoming one of the best selling artists in France

Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopatre, which is what it says on the tin,

De Rouille et d’Os, a Matthias Schoenaerts & Marion Cotillard movie about a former whale trainer who loses the use of her legs after an accident with a killer whale,

De Gaulle, a biopic about the General de Gaulle which kinda sells itself,

Edmond, a sort of biopic of Edmond Rostand, the one who wrote Cyrano de Bergerac,

Au Revoir Là Haut, a con movie in the roarings twenties featuring two soldiers, one of which is completely disfigured.

Here’s a further list of movies I think you could watch: La Rafle, Qu’est ce qu’on a fait au bon Dieu, Rrrrrr!!!!, Les Bronzés Font du Ski, Intouchables, Les Misérables (2019), Brice de Nice, etc.

Shows:

Kaamelot, King Arthur on his quest to the Holy Grail but if it was an absolute comedy,

Lupin, on Netflix with Omar Sy in the lead role (excellent!)

Un si grand soleil, a TV show that takes place in the South of France which I feel obligated to put on this list because it’s filmed in my home city (Montpellier, représente!) even though it’s not, by far, specially good and I’ve only seen a little bit of it,

Section de Recherches, which is basically CSI in French, but I don’t watch it myself (I’m not a fan of law procedurals and such, but I hear it should be good!)

Joséphine Ange Gardien, which is not something I personally watch either, but from what I’ve seen of it, it should be quite fun if you’re into serialized TV shows with a little bit of procedures and crime and stuff, plus it’s kinda cute too.

Here’s some more you can look, if you feel like it: H, Bref, Engrenages, Un Gars Une Fille, Scènes de Ménage, etc.

Other:

The Restos du Coeur charity show, which is an absolute classic thing to watch in France with a whole bunch of French artists and other celebrities/public figures doing a sort of concert to raise money for charity,

Auto Moto, if you’re interested in cars/bikes etc. and you can, I’d try watching this, it airs every Sunday and is a car/bike specialist TV-show where they take a look at new cars and new bikes etc. every single week (it’s about 30 minutes long)

Les Aventures du Jeune Voltaire, an upcoming TV show about Voltaire, the first 2 episodes are airing on the 7th of February (I am looking for much forward to it!)

Cash Investigation, a good investigative television show that covers important current topics,

The Voice France, and I know this is a stretch, but the principle of the show is basically the same as the American one, except in French... Bonus, you get French songs as well!

The documentary “Les stars racontent 20 ans de NRJ Music Awards” if you can find it somewhere which is a 90 minute documentary about the NRJ Music Awards, the biggest music industry award show in France (it gives a nice insight into what is going on in France when it comes to music and such),

Other things you can watch, if you can find them online / if they’re available: Secrets d’Histoire (which you already have), France 5 and Arte usually have some good documentaries you can look up, etc.

Music:

Gims raps mostly in French language and has very good and sophisticated lyrics, I’d definitely look up some of his tracks if you don’t already know some of them,

Kendji Girac, a French Catalan Romani singer who won his season of the Voice and is currently the best selling The Voice alumni WORLDWIDE, he makes some nice bops to chill out to (I always get in a good mood when listening to his songs),

Indila, French singer, she’s got some nice tunes to her as well,

Nolwenn Leroy, known for her Brittany inspired songs which celebrate her heritage,

Soprano, French rapper who also does some nice bops,

Louane, a wonderful young French singer who has a beautiful voice,

Julien Doré, a nice French singer who does some nice stuff too, and I’m obliged to put him on the list because he grew up in Lunel which is like almost next to where I grew up, lol,

Johnny Hallyday, which is the most cliché thing EVER to put on this list because every single Frenchman will go “oh my god WHY” but his catalogue is so large that there’s bound to be some songs in there that you enjoy (He was called the French Elvis and is also called “the biggest rock star you've never heard of“ and I will unabashedly keep listening to his songs when I need it.

Other French singers/artists you can look up: Tryo, Indochine, Kyo, Slimane, Matt Pokora, Christophe Maé, Joyce Jonathan, etc.

There’s probably a whole bunch of other things I’ve missed myself because I haven’t been living in France for almost 6 years now, but this is just what I could list off the top of my head <3

(If you come off Anon, I know of a place to find some of the non-feature movies and non-fictional television shows if you’re interested!)

#french stuff #upthebaguette #Anonymous #i love kendji so fucking much i'm sorry i'm gonna advertize for him every fucking where #he's got the prettiest eyelashes in the whole wide world

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sienablackwood · 3 years ago

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Well I gotta deliver at one point or another. Needed a bit to think about those (and about my uni essay). So thank you for tagging me @drippinlou

I tend to take my music taste too serious 🤣 so sorry beforehand. This might as well be hilarious.

1. What’s the first song you remember hearing?

Dragostea din tei - O-Zone

It was the year 2003 and this was played over and over again on the radio. So my kindergarten teacher let our group create a choreography to present at the annual summer get-together in front of our parents.

2. What’s the first band you got into?

Probably I should say Led Zeppelin or Metallica. My dad was a big fan and when he drove me somewhere we would headbang in the car and he told me all about the concerts he's been to and who was playing which instrument and from which drug addiction they where suffering.

My first band Obsession was 5 Seconds of summer. I wasn't a Directioner, I was one of the cool edgy kids I listened to 'punk rock'. No, I seriously felt like I'm definitely not like other girls.

3. Do you collect physical music?

No, usually I don't. I own a few albums only because I like the cover artwork but my CD-Player broke a few years ago. I try to manage my possessions digitally as much as possible.

4. What is your favorite piece of music memorabilia?

A Rock am Ring 1994 Festival memorial shirt. I of course was born 1999. It was my dad's shirt he gifted it to me when it didn't fit him anymore. My parents met at this festival so it's quite precious to me. My dad missed 'apparently' missed Rammstein because of her (I checked, Rammstein didn't play that year)

5. What’s your favorite concert that you’ve been to?

It's quite embarrassing but I've never been to a concert yet. When I discovered my genre of music the pandemic hit and before that I was never so much into a artist that I considered going to a concert.

6. If you could see any artist that’s no longer alive in concert, who would it be?

I mean of course the Beatles, who wouldn't like to see the beatles. But technically some of those bands are still touring but I would have liked to see AC/DC, Deep Purple and the Rolling Stones in the original lineup. I mean the seeing Michael Jackson or Amy Whinehouse would have been nice too. But most of the artists that I actively listen too are still in the business.

7. Have you met any musicians?

No. And I don't really aspire too. I saw a German Pop-Singer once in a restaurant, and even through I did listen to his music at the time I would never go up to them because of privacy reasons. I can fangirl online I don't have to bring that up to them.

8. What’s your go-to album when you’re feeling sad?

The 'Recovery'-Album from Eminem. It throws me back into my teenage self who had - compared to me now - very different problems and I've overcome them and that kinda means I will overcome the recent ones too. And I hate being sad, so getting into an angy mood sometimes is better than crying in the corner.

9. What’s your go-to album when you’re feeling happy?

I don't have an album but I've got a "sing along in the car"-Playlist with cringe euro dance stuff. Or my "Barbecue with Daddy"-Playlist with classic rock and old school metal.

10. What is one music documentary that you love?

Does "The Dirt" the Mötley Crüe Biopic count? I'm not overly into documentarys. I did like 'Rocketman' too and the festival documentaries of the Wacken Open Air.

11. What is one concert DVD that you love?

I dont own a single one. If I watch something on TV I'm gonna go for a movie.

12. Do you prefer listening to playlists or albums?

Definitely Playlists. The music needs to fit my mood. If it changes theme suddenly I get aggravated.

13. Do you listen to albums in order or on shuffle?

If I do listen to albums I don't care about the order - usually. Except if it's like one of those concept albums where the order really matters to tie together some story (like Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones by BVB - I love this album. Its teenage wanna-be-emo Toni in a nutshell) but I at least listen to any album in order once to determine if I should keep it that way.

14. What is your favorite deep cut song by your favorite artist?

I change favorite artists so often... and favorite songs too. But my all time go-to is probably "Breath of Life" by Florence and the Machine. I love this song. I can dance my heart out to it or cry in my bed.

Tags are open, y'all!

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roetrolls · 3 years ago

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Whats everyone's movie tastes like?

Oh this is a very good question

UD: Literally Anything - He’s just happy to be here and thinks film is a great way of learning about Alternian culture. He is also very proud of his capacity to enjoy and engage with fiction

Ottana: Period Dramas - She’s mainly in it for the costumes tbh

Kat: Coming-of-Age Stories - Anything that falls into this description tugs at her heartstrings

Allie: Action Movies - Give her loud noises and explosions and she’s happy

Mollie: Biopics/Documentaries - She’ll watch anything and enjoy it, but she gets most invested in nonfiction narratives

Merill: Romantic Comedies - The cheesier the better

Lektra: Indie - She knows it’s not technically a genre, but it has a definite vibe that she likes

Veylin: None??? - She’s not a big movie fan

Franky: Nature Documentaries - He just likes animals

Drevin: Musicals - Especially the more classical kinds. Think Singing in the Rain or My Fair Lady. He finds them charming.

Levvie: Crime Movies??? - I don’t know what you would call this but she likes heist type films and revenge plots. Things like the Oceans franchise or Promising Young Woman

Ben: Indie Indie - You know, the experimental kind. Focused more on cinematography than the actual story.

Kiyana: ??? - Gonna be real with you, I have no clue. Would Kiyana even watch movies? Her whole personality is a fucking enigma.

Mallum: War Movies - DEFINITELY Fleet propaganda, but he likes that.

Billie: Superhero Movies - Realistically, I don’t know how prevalent this genre would be on Alternia given the anti-mutant sentiment and the fact that having powers isn’t fantasy for them, but that’s what she would enjoy. Maybe it’s like queer kids liking villains because they’re coded as queer. Mutant villains are still mutants and she likes that?

Candy: Horror Movies - Of ANY kind. Psychological, paranormal, slasher. You name it, she likes it.

And in case you’re curious, my taste is the same as Candy’s :)

#ooc #roe rabbles #questions for roe #full roster

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doomonfilm · 4 years ago

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Recommendations : Black History Month Films

With Black History Month winding down, I thought it may be fitting to wrap up my focus on films by Black creators by recommending a handful that I have not given my thoughts on via the DOOMonFILM blog, but feel that they deserve attention nonetheless. Some are streaming and will be easy to find, others may or may not require a little sleuthing, but all of them are definitely worth the time invested.

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling is the semi-autobiographical biopic co-written, produced and directed by Richard Pryor, the iconic comic the story centers around. For all of his wonderful achievements in stand-up and film, many people tend to focus on Pryor’s tragic freebasing accident that ironically helped correct his path away from drug addiction. With that in mind, it was an extremely brave choice for Pryor to center his film around this event and use it as a way to take stock of his past, the positive and negative impacts that he had on others (as well as those who impacted him), and most importantly, his choices in regard to all of this. The end result is a touching, deeply-moving film with as much drama and deep emotion as there is humor, and perhaps one of the best films in the Richard Pryor canon.

The Greatest takes a similar approach to the biopic, only this time, Muhammad Ali steps in to the Richard Pryor role to tell his own story. The coverage goes from Ali’s amateur days and his rise onto the world stage via the Olympics to the wake of his struggles with the United States draft board, his banishment from boxing, and his eventual triumphant return. The power of the film comes from Ali presenting us with the turmoil he felt having the prime of his career stripped from him during its prime, with his approach to celebrity and his choice to convert to the Nation of Islam also given attention. While there are plenty of amazing documentaries that cover the prolific career and life of Ali, this film stands as the only narrative telling of his life as told by the man that lived it.

Love Jones stood as an interesting point in the evolution of my appreciation for film, specifically in regards to my acceptance of how Black people are presented on the screen versus the greater public’s understanding of how Black people are represented. As a fan of Larenz Tate, I wanted to seem him continue to stretch his wings and distance himself from the typecasting that should have occurred in the wake of his performance as O-Dog in the instant classic Menace II Society, and having Nia Long, Bill Bellamy and a number of other prolific Black actors didn’t hurt either. I was also finding my way into the poetry scene of Austin, which added another point of connection for me to the film. The compelling factor, however, came in a discussion with a former co-worker who found himself unable to “suspend disbelief” long enough to enjoy the film, and to my surprise, the “belief” was that Black people like the ones in the film do not exist. I didn’t necessarily take offense to the statement (not on a personal level, anyway), but it was a very direct eye-opening moment that changed my perception of how we are perceived, even in the modern day.

Of all the streaming services providing films that fall under the Black History Month umbrella, Criterion Collection has stepped up unlike any other. One of my favorite aspects of their infusion has been the wealth of William Greaves films on the platform, but they recently added Nationtime, a documentary centered around the National Black Political Convention of 1972 that took place in Gary, Indiana. Unfortunately, I’ve not seen this one yet, but I plan on correcting that sooner than later.

Robert Townsend has found himself in an odd position of finding his relevance seemingly minimalized over the years, which is a shame, because the man is not only one of the funniest in Hollywood, but he opened the doors for many people that followed in his footsteps and eventually attained iconic statuses in their own right. His debut film, Hollywood Shuffle, not only served as comedic fodder in the vein of Abrams/Zucker/Abrams, but it simultaneously provided insight into both the Black experience in Hollywood in general and Townsend’s journey specifically. While his films like Meteor Man and The Five Heartbeats may have gained bigger fandoms, Hollywood Shuffle will always stand as his underappreciated cult classic until it gets the credit it rightly deserves.

The debate on racism and its systematic nature continues to run rampant, so for those looking for some insight and education on the matter, 13th is a must-watch. Many people tend to dismiss slavery as a thing of the past and act as if it has no impact on the present, which is its own debate, but 13th focuses specifically on how slavery as we once knew it has been morphed into a business via the 13th Amendment and the way it has created the prison pipeline and prison industrial complex. All sides of the debate are given the opportunity to voice their stances and provide information as support, which leaves the burden of conclusion on the viewer, which speaks to this film’s strength as a documentary both in terms of production and social significance.

Hood films were all the rage in the mid-1990′s, so it was refreshing (no pun intended) to see a film such as Fresh. While many films dealt with the issues of poverty via guns, drugs and the like, Fresh was about a young man attempting to better himself by improving his mind, using chess as the vehicle for said improvement. While the film did not create a boom in terms of Black chess players, it did let people on both sides of film know that hood films did not have to check a limited number of boxes. On a side note, the film also has a banger of a soundtrack.

I’ve always had a fascination with films that touch upon the Vietnam war, but Dead Presidents also touches upon the poverty that led many Black men into Vietnam, the struggles they faced in a war of ideals that did not serve their best interest, and the lasting costs that Vietnam left on many veterans, Black or otherwise. Larenz Tate turns in a dynamic leading man performance, and the supporting casts comes with it... Chris Tucker, Freddy Rodriguez, N’Bushe Wright and Keith David all leave their all on the screen in incredibly compelling performances. The cinematography is dynamite and visceral, the soundtrack reads like a who’s who of 1970′s soul, and the ending sequences are iconic in both visual and narrative strength.

#ChiefDoomsday #DOOMonFILM #JoJoDancerYourLifeIsCalling #TheGreatest #LoveJones #Nationtime #HollywoodShuffle #13th #Fresh #DeadPresidents #CB4 #Dope

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tabloidtoc · 4 years ago

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Star, March 8

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: George Clooney vs. Brad Pitt -- the fight that ended their friendship

Page 1: Scott Disick's mid-life makeover -- some guys buy a convertible but Scott already has a garage full of fancy rides, so what else to do when you're edging close to 40, split from the mom of your three kids and are already dating a 19-year-old model? Well, bleach your hair platinum, of course!

Page 2: Contents, Leighton Meester and Adam Brody celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary with a couple's surf session

Page 3: Star Shots -- John Legend wore an eye-catching sweater to a photoshoot in West Hollywood, Anya Taylor-Joy stunned in a crimson gown on the set of an untitled David O. Russell-directed period film, Jason Sudeikis grabbed a bite during a break from filming Ted Lasso's second season in London

Page 4: After hosting countless rose ceremonies over nearly two decades of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, Chris Harrison is now in the hot seat himself and facing backlash for defending current Bachelor frontrunner Rachael Kirkconnell who's been accused of racist behavior -- the next day, Chris apologized and said he was stepping aside as host of the dating reality series but the damage was done as Rachel Lindsay who is the first Black lead in the franchise's history revealed she won't renew her Bachelor contract and current Bachelor Matt James supported her -- as for Chris, the fallout continues as Crest are considering pulling down ads featuring him but with critics calling for his ouster Chris wants his job back and no one at ABC wants to see him replaced but those conversations are happening

Page 5: Miley Cyrus has an idea how to help Britney Spears in her legal battle to replace dad Jamie Spears as her conservator -- Miley is hoping she and Britney can record a classic song together like an anthem like Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves or Enough Is Enough and she's hoping to get Britney on board but that may be a challenge with the legal restrictions in place

* Mom-of-eight Kate Gosselin didn't get what she was asking for on her house in Pennsylvania -- it's upsetting that she got less than she paid for it but her hand was forced; it costs a lot to keep up a house like that on 20-plus acres and with years of roughhousing, it needs a lot of work -- with twins Mady and Cara already in college and the sextuplets growing up, Kate hopes to jump-start her career and she's dying to leave Pennsylvania and head to Hollywood

* Paris Hilton's boyfriend of just over a year Carter Reum dropped to one knee on a gorgeous private beach and offered Paris his heart and a sparkler from Cartier and she said yes -- close family was on hand to celebrate the couple who have been friends for 15 years and the party went on well into the evening -- now Paris is already making wedding plans for something simple and elegant with a gorgeous dinner and the couple is ready to start a family sooner rather than later and she's hinted she's already started IVF and if she gets pregnant they'll just push up the wedding

Page 6: Ryan Gosling needed some time off after 2018's moon-landing biopic First Man because he really became Neil Armstrong during the six months of shooting and he was absolutely drained after finishing it and he spent the next two years with wife Eva Mendes being a full-time dad to their two young kids -- now he's back and with three movies lined up, he's looking at a $75 million paycheck this year -- in addition to The Gray Man, he's gearing up for a Wolfman update and another space adventure called Project Hail Mary -- he wants to be a popcorn-movie star and he's going full-blown buff-and-shirtless action hero

* Allen v. Farrow is a new investigation into 1992 allegations about Woody Allen by his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow and her mother Mia Farrow that digs up damning new evidence against the director -- one harrowing home video shows the then-7-year-old Dylan saying her dad touched her privates and later a doorman and a building manager and a maid at Allen's NYC residence raise questions about when Woody began his shocking relationship with Mia's teen daughter Soon-Yi -- Mia also expresses fear in the doc, saying she worries that when the documentary comes out he'll be on the attack again and he'll do whatever he has to do to save himself

* Star Spots the Stars -- Julia Roberts, Joe Jonas, Luann de Lesseps, Christina Aguilera, Kaia Gerber, Tarek El Moussa and Heather Rae Young

Page 8: Star Shots -- With balloons and a box of chocolate in hand lifestyle expert Gretta Monahan arrived at The View, Melissa Gorga snacked on a huge box of sweets between Zoom interviews to promote the 11 season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Vanessa Lachey prepared to host a Galentine's Day celebration with macarons and wine

Page 10: Jenna Dewan making a plant-based meal, Selling Sunset's Christine Quinn and her husband Christian Richard sipped juice bar drinks while running errands in Beverly Hills, Hugh Grant stopped to tend to his laces while out for a walk in Chelsea in West London, Carrie Underwood prepped for her daily workout session in pieces from her Calia fitness apparel line

Page 12: After a stop at the Kidding Around children's store Bradley Cooper had his hands full walking with his daughter Lea in NYC, Sofia Vergara chic in a blowout and patterned top in Beverly Hills, Justin Bieber looked comfy in a message tee and pajama bottoms in L.A.

Page 13: Thandie Newton looked tense while Chris Pine hit the ground running as the two filmed the spy thriller All the Old Knives in London, Jon Bernthal braved the frigid water while Gretchen Mol bundled up on the set of American Gigolo in L.A.

Page 14: Think Pink -- Jennifer Lopez hoisted an oversized customized bubble-gum hued Coach satchel in a promo shot in NYC, Cardi B slipped on neon sneakers from her Reebok collaboration to shop on Rodeo Drive in L.A., Hilary Duff showing off a peek of her growing baby bump on the set of Younger in NYC

Page 16: In town to film The Hills: New Beginnings with their castmates Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag played in the snow with their son Gunner in Lake Tahoe

Page 17: Mandy Moore and husband Taylor Goldsmith celebrated their last Valentine's Day before parenthood with a romantic stroll in Pasadena, Michelle Obama on her new children's show Waffles + Mochi

Page 18: Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay in NYC, hiding her locks in a cute newsboy cap Brooke Burke grabbed dinner at Nobu in Malibu, Krysten Ritter brought her son Bruce to meet some farm animals at the Gentle Barn in Santa Clarita

Page 20: Normal or Not? Farrah Abraham suffered a serious wardrobe malfunction while hitting the sand in Malibu -- not normal, Nikki Reed gushing over her therapy chicken -- normal, Property Brothers' Drew Scott booty bumpin' with wife Linda Phan -- not normal, Lucy Hale lovingly held onto her new dog Ethel while fueling up her ride in L.A. -- normal

Page 22: Fashion -- stars in pastel frocks -- Heidi Klum, Sophia Bush, Chrissy Teigen

Page 23: Rihanna, Kirsten Dunst

Page 26: Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker are having sexy slumber parties at Kourtney's $8.5 million Calabasas pad and they are spending so much time together and she loves having him sleep over and he'll stay the whole weekend -- Travis who has lived nearby in the gated community for years is already making himself at home and not only has he moved a bunch of stuff into Kourtney's property but she leaves him to chill out and enjoy his space if she has to run errands -- even if it seems the couple is moving and moving in fast, their respective broods are on board with the new arrangement and Kourtney's kids Mason, Penelope and Reign love having Travis around and meanwhile the door is always open for Travis' kids Alabama and Landon, and Travis and Kourtney do a lot of fun stuff with their kids together -- there's already speculation that the move-in will be permanent because Kourtney knows a good thing when she sees it and Travis checks all the boxes

Page 27: Meeting the in-laws might be a little complicated for newly engaged Shailene Woodley and Aaron Rodgers because the Green Bay Packers QB is famously estranged from his Chico, California-based family -- in 2016 Aaron's younger brother Jordan Rodgers exposed the rift while competing on The Bachelorette and at the time, fans blamed Aaron's then-girlfriend Olivia Munn for turning him Hollywood but the trouble continued after their 2017 split -- now that he's with Shailene, Aaron doesn't want to bring her into that toxic atmosphere but Shailene who once called her own folks super f**ked up is not deterred and she is encouraging Aaron to let bygones be bygones but he's not ready

* Melissa and Joe Gorga's marriage troubles will play out on the new season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey but their issues are even worse behind the scenes and they've been butting heads as Melissa's career continues to skyrocket so she's distracted with work and doesn't have time for Joe and he feels neglected and he isn't one to hold back -- it doesn't help that the Envy boutique owner was rumored to be getting close to another man -- the couple is trying to work out their issues for the sake of their three kids but Melissa may be done

Page 28: Cover Story -- George Clooney and Brad Pitt: The Breaking Point -- fights, jealousy and other women -- the former besties had a major falling out and now mutual friend Sandra Bullock is desperate to reunite them -- George and Brad have barely spoken in eight years and they've definitely gone their separate ways and Brad's ex-wife Angelina Jolie played a big part in the demise of their friendship because Angie felt George took Brad away from her and their kids -- Amal Clooney found Angie unbearable and that was kind of the point of no return for Brad and George -- George is struggling to regain his luster as a director while Brad is out there winning Oscars

Page 32: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: Interview Shockers -- as they prep for baby number two, Harry and Meghan announce a no-holds-barred interview, leaving the palace on edge

Page 34: Celebs in Wheel Trouble -- don't drink (or drug) and drive; these stars got caught making some very bad decisions -- Bruce Springsteen, mug shots of Justin Bieber

Page 35: Reese Witherspoon, Vince Vaughn, Lindsay Lohan, Michael Phelps, Khloe Kardashian, Henry Thomas, Heather Locklear, Jesse Luken, Mel Gibson

Page 36: Beauty -- curl care -- strengthen every type of wave and coil with cool new miracle workers

Page 48: Parting Shot -- Bill Murray teamed up with NFL player Larry Fitzgerald for the AT&T Every Shot Counts Charity Challenge in Pebble Beach -- despite landing in third place, Bill and Larry made a great pair, earning an impressive $209,000 for local charities

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Best New Movies on Netflix in March 2021

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The month of March signals a grim milestone with it being roughly one year since COVID-19 shut movie theaters down around the world. And 12 months later, going to a cinema remains a risky proposition. However, the comfort of Netflix is still providing a safe alternative for the quarantine-bound.

Here’s a handful of new cinematic gems coming to a streaming service near you.

Batman Begins (2005)

March 1

Christopher Nolan‘s Batman origin story breathed new life into the Dark Knight in 2005 after Batman & Robin killed the movie franchise eight years earlier. Christian Bale, who gained more muscle than he probably needed for the role, turns in an excellent performance as both the troubled billionaire and the Caped Crusader. Along for the ride are Michael Caine as the definitive version of Alfred Pennyworth on the big screen, as well as Liam Neeson as Ra’s al Ghul, Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, and Katie Holmes as love interest Rachel Dawes. Featuring plenty of twists and turns, a few spooky scenes with the Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy), and a deep-dive into the mind of a haunted man on a mission to save his decaying city, Batman Begins plants many of the seeds of brilliance that would fully bloom in its follow-up.

Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)

March 1

Hitting its 10-year anniversary in a few months, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa’s Crazy, Stupid, Love. still feels like a rom-com from a different era. With its laid back demeanor, and generally laconic grooving on a plot about a player (Ryan Gosling) helping a middle-aged divorced schmuck (Steve Carell) get back on his feet, this goes down more like a star vehicle from five decades ago. Yet the piece is as effortlessly appealing as Gosling’s too-cool-for-school energy, elevating the movie over screenwriter Dan Fogelman’s more recent dramedies, such as This is Us. Plus, hey, it’s also the first movie to realize Gosling and Emma Stone have like crazy good chemistry.

Dances with Wolves (1990)

March 1

Kevin Costner’s Oscar winner is somewhat haunted by its little gold statues for Best Picture and Director, which it won over Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. However, there is still an excellent Western here that captured audiences’ imaginations in 1990 for a reason. The story of a U.S. Cavalry officer who becomes enamored with and then assimilated by a community of Lakota Native Americans, Dances with Wolves has a sweeping majesty that’s as immersive as John Barry’s score. It can be rightly criticized for embracing “white savior” tropes, but Costner’s movie still has the good grace to put performances like Graham Greene’s front and center.

The Dark Knight (2008)

March 1

Fans critical of Heath Ledger’s casting as the Joker quickly switched to praising the late actor when The Dark Knight hit theaters in 2008. A true agent of chaos, this Joker puts Bale’s Batman and his allies through a gauntlet of capers, assassination attempts, and pain. Even district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), the city’s very own white knight, can’t resist the Joker’s corrupting influence as the clown lays siege to Gotham. A story about how far you’ll go to get justice, and how long a functioning society can withstand that pressure, The Dark Knight plays more like a serious crime drama (with Batman flying off rooftops on occasion, of course) than a traditional superhero romp. At a time when superhero movies were still better known for punching and tights, Nolan sought to say something more with the genre.

Rain Man (1988)

March 1

Barry Levinson’s 1988 road trip drama cleaned up at the Oscars when it was released, bagging Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, and Best Actor for Dustin Hoffman. It’s often held up as creating the stereotype of the “autistic savant,” but this drama which sees selfish douchebag Charlie (Tom Cruise) travel across America with Raymond (Hoffman), the brother he didn’t know he had but who is now unexpectedly the sole inheritor of their father’s fortune, still stands up as a character piece that tugs at the heartstrings. If nothing else, it’s a highly quotable cultural phenomenon and a showcase of actors at the top of their game.

Training Day (2001)

March 1

Here is a film so good that its influence still lingers over pop culture to this day, even if no one quite remembers why Denzel Washington is saying King Kong ain’t got shit on him. Back in 2001, it catapulted Washington to his second Oscar, this time in the leading man category thanks to the role of Alonzo, a crooked cop who takes rookie Jake (Ethan Hawke) under his wing and (seemingly) into his vices. It’s a gritty crime thriller anchored by two strong performances, including Washington at his showiest. In fact, he’s so good at elevating this movie that it sometimes feels like director Antoine Fuqua and screenwriter David Ayer have been unsuccessfully trying to duplicate it ever since.

Audrey (2020)

March 14

Audrey Hepburn so effortlessly inhabits the screen that for generations of movie lovers, she seemed unreal—a symbol of style and glamour whose feet were never meant to touch earthly clay. This, however, misses the remarkableness of her life’s journey, from starving conditions under Nazi occupation in the Netherlands during her adolescence—informing her unique frame for the rest of her life—to eventually using those unspoken memories of atrocity as the foundation to become a human rights activist late in life. In between, she had a brief Hollywood career stacked with high fashion and a shockingly high quotient of classics. In fact, she became a new image for femininity in the mid-20th century. Audrey is a somewhat rose-tinted documentary about all of this, but for those who would like to know more, it’s a lovely place to start.

Philomena (2013)

March 22

A sweet, powerful, and decidedly underrated gem, Stephen Frears’ Philomena provides a gentle touch to the true life story of Philomena Lee, a woman who spent 50 years looking for the child she was forced to give up to adoption. But even “forced” is perhaps too easy a word since in her native Ireland, she was more or less incarcerated at a convent after becoming pregnant at the age of 18, with nuns sending the child away to parts unknown without her consent. Philomena now tracks the final months of her search as an older woman through the prism of a two-hander between Judi Dench as Philomena and Steve Coogan as Martin Sixsmith, the journalist who told her story and inspired the film. It makes for a surprisingly warm and affectionate road movie.

At Eternity’s Gate (2018)

March 31

At Eternity’s Gate is far from the only film about the life of Vincent van Gogh and it isn’t the best (shout out to Lust For Life, Loving Vincent, and that one episode of Doctor Who), but it’s still worth a watch—especially for fans of the Dutch painter. With Willem Dafoe as van Gogh, Oscar Isaac as Paul Gaugin, and Mads Mikkelsen as “The Priest,” the 2018 biopic would be worth it for the performances alone. But director and artist Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Basquiat) further elevates what is a pretty straight-forward story (albeit with a controversial ending) about the painter’s final, prolific days in the French countryside into a visually vivid and emotionally affecting tale about the joys and struggles of creative compulsion.

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sebastbu · 5 years ago

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My Top 40 Movies of the Decade

***just my opinion***this list is not set in stone either***

1. 12 Years A Slave (2013)

What Steve McQueen has managed to do with this movie in nothing short of the best thing art is capable of. He takes the horror of humanity and turns it into a heart shattering tale of the best of humanity. A film that could have sunk easily among the brutality it contains, instead soars with Solomon’s survival. It is one of the most life-affirming, uplifting works of art I’ve ever seen. It makes you cry, it makes you shout, it makes you cheer, it makes you breathless. In short, all the things movies are best at. Not just a definitive movie, but a definitive work of art.

2. The Act of Killing (2012)

This has my vote for the best documentary film of all time. What begins as a transfixing profile of the mass murders responsible for the 1965 Indonesian genocide quickly transforms into a Brechtian nightmare as director Joshua Oppenheimer somehow convinces these men to stage scenes for a fake movie reenacting their crimes. As the film progresses you can hardly believe what you’re witnessing. Horrifying, yet you can’t look away. Oppenheimer holds your attention for every second. What’s captured for film here is truly unique, ground-breaking, soul shaking. A statement about the banality of evil as profound as Ardent’s essays.

3. The Tree of Life (2011)

Malick has reached his final form here. An organic art form, pure cinema, visual poetry, whatever you want to call it. Nothing but a movie could be this. The images he crafts here are as close to a religious experience as I’ve ever had watching a movie, and probably ever will. In exploring childhood memories, Malick’s style perfectly matches his subject manner. He use of ellipsis and fluidity mirrors the way memories flash through our heads. It is as if we are witnessing memory directly, unfiltered. This movie will move you in ways you didn’t know a movie could.

4. The Social Network (2010)

That Facebook movie? Hell yeah that facebook movie. What Fincher and Sorkin have managed to do is take what could be a standard biopic, or dull tech movie, and made it into an epic tale of betrayal, greed, friendship, coming of age, and identity. Ross and Reznor’s score pulses, as does the dialogue. This movie starts the instant you press play and it doesn’t let you catch your breath for one second until the very end. Endlessly quotable, perfected acted. A masterclass.

5. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

What can I say about this movie? Every shot is perfect. Every joke, beat, pan, zoom. Well, I guess I’ll say this. This movie disarms with its charm, its facade. But at its heart is a wrenching tale of loss, nostalgia, and the fleeting nature of everything, especially those we love. A jewel of a film. Anderson makes sure you’re cozy and then pulls the rug out from under you, and suddenly you’re crying.

6. The Master (2012)

Career best performances from Joaquin Phoenix and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Lushly shot. Greenwood delivers another ground breaking score. PTA has made an aimless film about aimless characters that nevertheless is riveting. At the end, you may not know exactly how far you’ve progressed, but you’re sure glad you went on the journey.

7. Drive (2011)

This is not an action movie. It’s a love story. The now famous dream pop soundtrack. Ryan Gosling doing so much with so little. Refn’s breathtaking cinematography. Diluted dreams. Crushed hopes. Silent gazes, filled with more emotion than dialogue could ever render.

8. The Revenant (2015)

An achievement of pure cinematic insanity. I still have no idea how they got some of these shots. A brutal, thrilling story of survival among nature’s cruelty. Inarritu’s camera is like magic in this film, uncovering the previously thought not possible.

9. La La Land (2016)

A reinvention of a genre that somehow manages to have its cake and eat it too: a nostalgia trip that also subverts expectations. Right up there next to Singin’ in the Rain, in my book at least. How on earth was that only Chazelle’s second ever movie?

10. The Lighthouse (2019)

TELL ME YE FOND O ME LOBSTER! WHYD YA SPILL YOUR BEANS? IF I HAD A STEAK ID FUCK IT. That about sums it up.

11. Parasite (2019)

Bong Joon Ho has made a beautifully twisted psychological thriller that is also hilarious, touching, and a lasting commentary on class and social mobility.

12. The Florida Project (2017)

Baker’s approach of setting this story from the viewpoint of children makes it a glorious romp through a world of innocence as well as tragedy, and also makes it all the more emotionally impactful.

13. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

It’s all about the cat. Alongside the Coen’s mastery of dialogue and the side character, as well as the beautiful folk music, this film acts as a deeply moving portrayal of depression, and how sometimes we are our own worst enemy.

14. Moonlight (2016)

Expertly crafted. Expertly acted. Expertly shot. A gorgeously rendered coming of age story. I’m not really the person who should speak of its importance. I’ll just say: it is. Very. A movie that will stun you.

15. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Practical! Effects! Yeah, that really is Tom Hardy swinging fifty feet off the ground on a pole as explosions go off behind him. A feminist, post-apocalypse, road trip movie brought to you by the director of Happy Feet and Babe 2. What more could you want?

16. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

A wonderful celebration of childhood and of fantasy. Anderson crafts a world you want to return to again and again. Anyone else get jump scared when they realized Lucas Hedges was in this???

17. Arrival (2016)

I love Denis Villeneuve’s films for so many reasons. The most important I think is that he balances entertainment and artistic depth so well. Like all great scifi Arrival is not really about aliens, it’s about us.

18. Inception (2010)

A film that runs on all cyclinders. Smart, funny, jaw dropping, just plain fun. Nolan manages to build some surprisingly moving moments as well.

19. Gone Girl (2014)

Ah Fincher and his twists. Rosemund Pike at the top of her game. Ross and Reznor return with another gripping score. Around the narrative, Fincher creates a fascinating portrayal of the media and marriage, one with endless twists and turns. You never quite know where it’s headed.

20. Sicario (2015)

A second thing I love about Dennis Villeneuve: he does point of view characters better than anyone else.

21. Enemy (2014)

A third thing I love about Dennis Villeneuve: he plays with genre and narrative structure unlike anyone else working right now.

22. Incendies (2010)

A fourth thing I love about Denis Villeneuve: he’s given us some of the best female lead characters this decade.

23. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

A fifth thing I love about Denis Villeneuve: he somehow managed make a Blade Runner sequel work. Here’s hoping for Dune.

24. The Look of Silence (2014)

The companion film of The Act of Killing. Oppenheimer does it again, this time focusing more on the victims of the genocide. Groundbreaking cinema.

25. Shame (2011)

Slow clap for Michael Fassbender. Slow clap for Carey Mulligan. Slow clap for Steven Mcqueen.

26. Hereditary (2018)

Using horror to examine mental illness and family trauma. Aster has made a new classic of genre, taking it to new heights.

27. Under The Skin (2014)

How to make a movie about an alien descended onto earth in order to capture men and engulf them in her weird black room of goo? Make a very alienation movie. Chilling. Otherworldly. Haunting.

28. Son of Saul (2015)

In making any holocaust film there’s always the risk of feeling exploitative. Nemes’s radical camera work, focusing almost entirely on the main character’s face in close up leaves this concern in the dust. The horrors enter only at the corners of the frame, while humanity is firmly centered the whole time. An important film everyone should see.

29. Whiplash (2014)

As visceral and heart pounding as the solos performed, the film as a whole is a perfectly made portrait of a obsession.

30. Amour (2012)

Haneke takes his unforgiving approach and lays bare a topic with incredible emotional depth. The result is deeply moving without ever being sentimental. I’m hard pressed to find another film about old age that is this poignant.

31. Birdman (2014)

A whirlwind of a film. A high wire act. The long takes turn it into something more akin to a play. A pretty damn good one at that.

32. Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (2011)

What’s Chekhov doing in the 21st Century? He’s in Turkey. He name is Nuri Ceylan.

33. The Favourite (2018)

Lanthimos turns down his style and turns up his humor. The result is the best of both worlds: a dark, twisted tale of power and a hilarious parody of monarchy and British costume drama.

34. Phantom Thread (2018)

PTA delivers again. What could easily have been another tired tale of the obsessive artist and the woman behind him is instead a fairy tale-ish ensnaring of two people’s ineffable pull towards each other.

35. A Hidden Life (2019)

Still fresh in my mind. Malick’s late style is given the backbone it needed in the form of a relevant tale of resistance and struggle. A meditative, prayer-like film about the power of belief.

36. Prisoners (2013)

A sixth thing I love about Denis Villeneuve: his movies have layers, but only if you look. Otherwise, the ride is pretty great as well.

37. Manchester By The Sea (2016)

A masterclass in doing less with more.

38. Foxcatcher (2014)

Bennett Miller does biopics unlike anyone else. That is to say, maybe better than anyone else working today.

39. The Witch (2015)

Eggers’s first foray into historical New England horror. A chilling commentary on the evils of puritanism.

40. The Kid With A Bike (2011)

The Dardenne brothers managed to make a gut-wrenching tale of childhood, masculinity, abandonment, the power of empathy, belonging, and redemption in 84 minutes. Here’s a suggestion. Watch this movie. Then watch it again. A better use of the same amount of time it takes to sit through The Irishman. Oh wait, no you still have 30 minutes left over.

#movies #top10 #decade list #movies list #2010s cinema

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arecomicsevengood · 5 years ago

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More Quarantine Movies

Going to put up this log of what I’ve seen now, as some of the stuff I liked the most is leaving The Criterion Channel at the end of the month. I really don’t know if anyone gets anything out of these posts, these are mostly synopses and they’re maybe spoiler-heavy. Let me give you the gist of it now: Otto Preminger’s a really good filmmaker whose movies are really interesting, Jean Arthur’s a great actress who enlivens everything and is also in a bunch of good-to-great movies. Also, I didn’t write about it but I rewatched Death Race 2000, that movie rules, feels relevant to today’s politics, and is leaving Criterion Channel at the end of the month.

The Pawnbroker (1964) dir. Sidney Lumet

Based on novel by Edward Lewis Wallant, whose The Tenants Of Moonbloom was reprinted by NYRB Classics with a Dave Eggers intro. Also some of the earliest nudity in a mainstream American film. About the misanthropy of a holocaust survivor, living in New York City, and interacting with black people who vaguely feel like racist caricatures, in part because it’s a movie about a misanthrope told from his perspective. A ton of movies about race from this era feel dated, this feels legitimately edgy, which is a term that gets thrown around somewhat ironically now or viewed as a pejorative, like something trying to offend, this does feel like a genuine attempt to be honest and push things forward (I really was not expecting that nudity) but also doesn’t feel totally successful, definitely not particularly enjoyable.

Shockproof (1949) dir. Douglas Sirk

I haven’t seen Sirk’s later melodramas, this one intrigued me in part because the screenplay was written by Samuel Fuller, and it’s sort of a pulpy noir thing. A woman, fresh out of jail, ends up living with her parole officer who is trying to keep her on the straight and narrow and away from her criminal ex, but they end up falling in love. There’s a thing where the male lead’s younger brother talks about how the lady is beautiful that I sort of wish wasn’t in there, feels creepy to me. There’s a bit of a shift in the narrative with the third act, where the lovers end up on the run, the once-upstanding man now a criminal on account of love, but they are having the endurance of their love tested by circumstance, is one of those things where a story which felt somewhat unique over the course of its telling shifts into something more recognizable.

…And The Pursuit Of Happiness (1986) dir Louis Malle

I have watched most of Louis Malle’s feature films at this point, I believe, and had a vague curiosity about what his documentaries were like. This one, made shortly after he’d moved to the U.S. and married Candice Bergen (something that comes up in Susan Seidelman’s Smithereens, in that some prostitutes read aloud from a fashion magazine that discusses it) he made a film talking to various recent immigrants. He covers a lot of ground, covering people working as doctors, large communities living in housing projects and causing racial tension with black neighbors (who both resent the smell of the food they cook but also suspect they don’t know their rights as the property developers plan to evict everyone and have the projects demolished). By and large everyone spoke to believes in the notion of the American dream of working hard to get ahead. Malle also speaks to anti-immigration think tank people and border patrols. Nothing too surprising but a lot of ground gets covered in a short amount of time. If I didn’t learn anything I at least admired that it felt non-didactic. Anything with more of a point of view or an argument would probably be disingenuous were it to present itself as enlightening.

The Baron Of Arizona (1950) dir. Samuel Fuller

Based on a true story, although with fictionalized elements, about a dude (played by Vincent Price) who becomes a master forger to falsify land grants and claim the entire state of Arizona as his own. Not a great movie, though that’s an interesting story. I bet I could guess what elements were made up for the sake of making a movie out of it, it has this tension of being interesting and unbelievable (although unbelievable by way of rote moviemaking formula), but also the story takes place over an extended period of time and so has some of the structureless feeling of a biopic.

House On Haunted Hill (1959) dir. William Castle

I’m going to confuse this with The Haunting Of Hill House for my entire life, that’s just the way it is. This stars Vincent Price, who’s always great, doing the famous premise where a group of people meet up to spend the night at a haunted house to win money. Vincent Price has a contentious relationship with his wife, who’s openly contemptuous of him and wants his money. There’s a moment where everyone at the house party is given a gun, each in a coffin. There’s a few “twists” all sort of being of the “there was a rational, non-ghost reason for everything” although any of them individually sort of strain the limits of credulity as something that works as a hoax. Vincent Price is basically not the villain, so much as his wife is, although he’s such a ham that loves being creepy that this again strains credibility in that the conclusion of the movie plays against the style with which the previous action has been presented. An enjoyable viewing experience.

My Name Is Julia Ross (1945) dir. Joseph Lewis

This one’s about a woman, looking for work, who falls into a scheme that kidnaps her and puts her up in a mansion, where she’s kept drugged and basically is told to assume the identity of a woman who was killed. I found this one pretty nerve-wracking, as it’s pretty nightmarish, basically about psychological torture. I found this one under Criterion Channel’s Columbia Noir collection, but before these films were considered noir, they were thought of as melodramas, but it’s also sort of a horror film about being gaslighted. There’s a part where they remove a stairwell and try to trick her into falling down? What’s funny is that one of the things that sort of separates this from horror is how quickly it resolves, whereas later work would I think give the audience the satisfaction of seeing the villain be punished in some way, the ending that just goes “then everything worked out alright” ends up making the structure feel more like the whole movie’s reason for being is just to see the protagonist suffer.

God Told Me To (1976) dir. Larry Cohen

Did I write about this already? I watched that a few months ago. Pretty wild basis in seventies grit about people going crazy, committing murders, then goes to a weird/confusing place involving some sort of holy entity in human form, the police procedural aspect butting up against this strangeness which doesn’t feel entirely thought through, and is in fact sort of incoherent, makes for a movie that is, in fact, still pretty good and worth watching although a bit tedious by the end.

Zombi Child (2019) dir. Bertrand Bonello

This I guess just came out in America this year, to the extent that anything came out this year, in theaters, it coming to streaming is basically its release. The zombies in this are of the old-school voodoo sense, taken seriously as a system of belief juxtaposed against French colonialism, as a Haitian teen feels at odds with her circle of friends, flashbacks to Haiti occur. When you watch a bunch of older movies new movies just seem to be not as good. Bonello’s not a bad filmmaker though, he’s able to capture a sort of sensual aspect of particular moments and moods, just not in a way where they then coalesce into a narrative of shifting emotion.

Anatomy Of A Murder (1959) dir. Otto Preminger

This movie is close to three hours long. It has a Law And Order procedural quality, taking up much of its second half with a courtroom drama, where Jimmy Stewart does a proto-Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer routine. He’s protecting a man accused of murdering the woman who raped his wife. The subject was surely shocking for its time. It becomes pretty clear, extremely quickly that the husband is an abusive piece of shit, but the main thrust of the narrative is still tasked with following the lawyer trying to get him off. Lee Remick, from Experiment In Terror plays the beautiful and doomed wife, who flirts with Jimmy Stewart. Some of these interactions feel weird from a modern perspective, because Stewart’s reaction is like “Yes, you’re a beautiful woman and any red-blooded American male would enjoy looking at you, but it is my duty as a lawyer to paternalistically insist you cover up!” Preminger is sort of known for pushing the envelope, and this one has a lot more talking about sperm and Lee Remick’s vagina than you’d expect. One of the things that’s meant to be a “quirky character detail” is that Jimmy Stewart is into jazz- The score, by Duke Ellington, is great, but there’s also a pretty corny cameo by Duke Ellington where Jimmy Stewart sits in with him, a second pair of hands on the piano. Still, I guess it’s better that he physically appears in the movie than there just being a scene where it implies Duke’s music is played by Jimmy Stewart, as the music is way too good to just be a lawyer’s quirky hobby. George C Scott, from Hardcore, plays the legal expert on the other side. After being pretty long, there is this sort of abrupt, (although well-foreshadowed) downbeat ending, where the jealous and abusive husband flees town to avoid paying his lawyer and to go somewhere quiet he can beat his wife to death, but said ending is played for this “you can’t win them all I guess, shame about the lower classes” quality from Stewart, who is dead broke all movie but seems like he just enjoyed being able to do work for once, even if it’s for a total shitbag. Good movie! Feels thorny and interesting.

Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965) dir. Otto Preminger

This is even better. Great Saul Bass credits sequence too. A psychological thriller where the disappearance of a child gives way to the police not being able to confirm the child is real, and doubting the mother’s sanity, becoming pretty nightmarish, dreamy, and exhilarating by turns. Gets to a place of “huh, I wonder what is going on” and then when that finally resolves there’s a pretty extended sequence of silent escaping/hiding, which is, one of those things that films do really well and is super-satisfying. It plays out amidst this background filled with interesting supporting characters, who all, for the first half of the movie, feel like moving parts in this somewhat inscrutable narrative machine.

The Man With The Golden Arm (1955) dir. Otto Preminger

This one I don’t like. Stars Frank Sinatra, who I find annoying, as a recovering heroin addict who relapses again. While I normally like the sort of scenery-chewing supporting cast that shows up in Preminger things, I really didn’t Sinatra’s nerdy best friend, or his wife with Munchausen’s syndrome. While with the other Preminger movies there’s this feeling of a slow reveal of what the plot is with this one I feel like as soon as you know that Sinatra is out of rehab (which you learn pretty quickly) you can guess the movie will be about how he relapses and then tries to get sober for real.

The Human Factor (1979) dir. Otto Preminger

Preminger’s final movie, based on a Graham Greene novel, featuring Iman making her film debut. Movie is mostly about intelligence agencies seeking out the mole in their mist, with intentions to kill whoever it is once they’re certain. It stars Richard Attenborough, as the source of the leaks. Halfway through the story becomes interspersed with flashbacks about Attenborough and Iman’s romance upon meeting in Africa. Continues the habit of ending on a moment that maybe feels like it should be expanded upon or made more resonant.

Bonjour Tristesse (1958) dir. Otto Preminger

This stars Jean Seberg as a teenager being raised by a single father, David Niven, who’s kind of a cad/ladies man who’s very permissive with his daughter, who seems likely to grow up rich and spoiled and find another rich man to take care of her. Deborah Kerr plays the woman who Niven ends up falling in love for real with, and the conflict is then between this woman taking on a maternal role and a daughter who is resentful of this. Deborah Kerr is in Black Narcissus, a movie I love, and here she comes off as smart, the voice of reason. Seberg destroys her father’s relationship by taking advantage of his sort of innate desire to flirt and be liked by women, driving Kerr to commit suicide, and the whole film is then told in flashback by Jean Seberg a year later, as she flirts with boys but has a great sadness and emotional distance about her, which is both inherited and self-inflicted. I’m partly just writing these plot summaries as my way of remembering what these movies are about, but this one is nice because I get to account for complicated characters who are both pretty eminently understandable. I keep getting hung up on the fact that movies today now have a much dumber idea of what a female character is. Maybe it’s something as basic as the fact that, as people read less, it’s rarer for literary novels to be adapted? As I talk in terms of “less good roles for women nowadays,” which is a cliche, it’s obvious enough that bad roles for men follow, as everyone is only as good or interesting as who they’re playing off of.

It’s also funny to think, in this era of “comic book movies,” that very few artists can make a character come to life with body language and facial expression the way an actor can. “Literary” cartoonists like Dan Clowes or Tomine play into the mask quality drawing creates, generating inscrutability as part of their effect. Many of the biggest names in “noir” comics are removed from the melodrama elements of actor’s performance in favor of an aesthetic based on paperback covers, which makes for something far less lively. Meanwhile, Blutch is an amazing artist who would probably do a great job telling lively character studies in a genre form, but he’s way more preoccupied with these Godard-style interrogations of film’s cultural meaning.

Separate Tables (1958) dir. Delbert Mann

From the same year as Bonjour Tristesse, and also featuring David Niven and Deborah Kerr. Deborah Kerr’s good in this- while she is sort of uptight in a maternal way in Bonjour Tristesse, here she’s sort of crippled by repression her mother imposes on her. It’s a totally different character, but she remains defined by various manifestations of repressed energy; I would say she’s most known for playing a nun in Black Narcissus. She’s again opposite Niven in a sort of romantic context, though Niven’s character is meant to be a neurotic freak and he’s not really convincing in that capacity. I couldn’t really work out what the deal is with Niven’s character, he gets arrested in a theater, seemingly because he takes his dick out to show women? Or that’s how I interpreted what was being discussed, but he’s mostly defended by everyone except this lady you’re supposed to hate for how domineering and judgmental she is so maybe it’s something less bad. I honestly couldn’t figure it out because it seemed like the thing I was guessing they couldn’t talk about. This movie also features Burt Lancaster and Rita Hayworth as a couple that broke up once before and are reuniting now. This movie is pretty dull in a way I didn’t know whether to attribute to it being British or it being based on a play, as it feels extremely both.

Seance On A Wet Afternoon (1964) dir. Bryan Forbes

This one’s British too, and features the quality I recognize from British television, where the stars are not attractive, which always feels surprising. This one’s got a pretty great title, and a great premise. This woman, a professional psychic, convinces her husband to kidnap a child so she can comfort the parents and get publicity. The cinematography’s great. I got pretty nervous watching this, I think I am feeling more sensitive to movies as of late, way more willing to find things upsetting and nerve-wracking than usual. I can partly attribute this to the feeling of taking something in from a different cultural context, that leaves me unsure what to expect, but it’s also true that nowadays I sort of constantly have this feeling of “I don’t know how bad things are going to get” about the world in general, and it makes sense that I would apply that to films.

Only Angels Have Wings (1939) dir. Howard Hawks

Jean Arthur’s amazing in this - saw her the first time in The Devil And Miss Jones and then there’s this whole Criterion Channel featurette video running through what her whole deal is: This vulnerability/innocence crossed with an attempted toughness that really is very charming. Here she plays an entertainer just stopping briefly in town who gets hit on by some pilots, and develops feelings of impossible love for a man (played by Cary Grant) whose insistent toughness and refusal to show fear (despite having a dangerous job, of a pilot, that makes everyone who cares about him fall to pieces with nervousness). It’s this very universal type of entertainment, where there’s all these special effects shots of planes flying and a drama of men being men that’s nonetheless anchored by this love story, carried by the fact that Jean Arthur is very real and complex. She’s also a legit comedic actress, which I think makes her feel richer and more watchable than someone without a sense of humor would be. Rita Hayworth plays Grant’s ex, a woman who couldn’t take his daredevil ways but is now married to another pilot who has to do dangerous flights essentially to make up for an act of cowardice that got someone else killed. She’s got her own charisma obviously (and Cary Grant’s equally solid, in this sort of old-Hollywood glamor way) but Jean Arthur feels very alive in a way that carries the movie.

The Talk Of The Town (1942) dir. George Stevens

This one also stars Jean Arthur opposite Cary Grant, but it’s less interesting, partly because of a domestic setting and some stale-seeming comedy. Cary Grant plays Lionel Dilg, (great name!) who breaks out of prison and hides out in Jean Arthur’s attic, with a hobbled ankle, while a preeminent legal scholar moves in. There’s a love triangle between the three of them, and a friendship between the escapee and the scholar. Grant’s been unfairly framed for arson for political reasons by his boss for pointing out the factory where he works is a death trap. The people of the town are easily turned against this sort of leftist agitator by a last and biased judge. Insanely enough, there’s a movie called “The Whole Town’s Talking” also starring Jean Arthur but it has no relation to this one.

The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936) dir. Stephen Roberts

Upon realizing that many of these Jean Arthur movies were leaving the Criterion Channel at the end of the month, I started taking more in. This is a murder mystery, with screwball comedy accents, and again I’d say it’s really good, although the “comedy” premise wherein a woman sort of plows through the life of a man with no real respect for personal boundaries is the sort of thing that works in a movie even though it seems totally nightmarish when looked at from a certain angle. She writes mysteries, he’s a doctor, people are getting murdered. He is played by William Powell, from The Thin Man movies, which maybe these resemble. I guess the bickering couple that solves mysteries is a trope but it’s one that I don’t think has had any currency in popular culture since Moonlighting, which was in my lifetime but before I would have had any awareness of it. (I would probably enjoy it up until the point where I got bored of the formula.) I thought this was great and would make a good double feature with L’Assassin Habite au 21.

History Is Made At Night, 1937, dir. Frank Borzage

This has Jean Arthur in it too, but the reason I became aware of it was Matt Zoller Seitz tweeting about it. Partly this is because the description on the Criterion site is so bare-bones it barely seems like anything, but it turns out this is because the plot is completely insane and has a ton of twists and to talk about them very quickly veers into spoiler territory. It is, in brief, a love story. The first totally insane in it is the handsome male lead does the “drawing a ventriloquist puppet on his hand” thing and the woman’s totally on board. An element that doesn’t spoil the plot, but does seem somewhat incongruent with the tone, is there’s a French chef character for a comic relief. It’s really good. I’m pointing out the lightest element but the story’s villain is believably sociopathic.

Secrets (1933) dir Frank Borzage

Not nearly as cool or good. While History Is Made At Night feels like a cohesive story that’s just pretty crazy, this one feels divided into acts that have nothing in common with each other. First act is romance, between a rich man’s daughter and his banker. They run away together. I’m basically unsure of when this movie takes place timewise, the rich lady is wearing massive layered gowns I know would’ve been out of fashion by 1933. The second act is a western where they make a home together and have to fight off bandits! But the action is shot in a a pretty disinterested manner. Third act, I’m pretty on edge and bored, but the banker is now the governor of California and is having an affair with another woman, and they’re at a party together, and then the ending feels epilogue style as they’re both old as hell and they have fully-grown children and they’re talking about how they’re taking their leave of the kids to discuss their secrets. Female lead is Mary Pickford in her final film role. I guess this is a remake of a silent film, which was itself based on a play. Yeah this movie sucks basically.

Bitter Moon (1992) dir. Roman Polanski

Sure, I’ll watch a sex criminal’s erotic thriller that’s way too long. Hugh Grant is a married guy on a boat who has a French dude talk about all the sex he and his wife have because he knows Hugh Grant wants to fuck his hot wife. Said wife is played by Emmanuelle Seigner, Roman Polanski’s actual wife since 1989. This is a bad movie by pretty much any metric. It kinda feels like the social function of erotic thrillers is not to be a more socially-acceptable form of pornography, but rather to be pervy enough to remind the audience why you shouldn’t talk about sex publicly and have that be your whole thing. The French, of course, misunderstand this.

The Burglar (1957) dir. Paul Wendkos

Another noir, written by David Goodis. This one is a little formulaic, in terms of what you think of crime movies as being “about.” A burglar, who learned the trade from his adopted father, works with that man’s daughter to commit heists. His gang doesn’t like her. Once the two of them are separated, a corrupt cop seeking to steal a burgled necklace for himself tries to pursue a relationship with her as a means to an end, while a woman allied with him works on the burglar. A drive to New Jersey gets stopped by cops, violence quickly escalates to make the situation more dire. Members of the gang die. Not a bad movie but by no means essential.

My Brother’s Wedding (1983) dir. Charles Burnett

Criterion Channel removed the paywall for a bunch of Black-made independent films, this is one of them, Burnett’s follow-up to Killer Of Sheep. Seemingly starring non-professional actors, it’s about the conflict a guy feels as his brother is planning to get married to a rich woman he resents, and the loyalty he feels to a guy who just got out of prison who everybody hates. The main character is a good dude who wants to help out this pretty dangerous friend the best he can. The film captures his pride and resentment.

Dial M For Murder (1954) dir. Alfred Hitchcock

A few iconic-seeming shots of Grace Kelly in the role of a Hitchcock blonde, i.e. her standing at a phone while someone looms behind her about to choke her, and later standing traumatized. Suffers a bit from clearly being based on a play, with a ton of dialogue, particularly in the second act. The first act is able to provide this very particular type of satisfaction, where someone outlines a “perfect crime” in dialogue and then we see it play out and it falls apart and happens completely differently. It’s funny the criminal gives themselves away due to mistaking one key for another, because this sort of structure really does feel like a key fitting into a lock, things perfectly designed for one another, parceled out at the right time.

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ramajmedia · 5 years ago

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Jim Carrey's 10 Best Movies, According To Rotten Tomatoes

Despite being one of the biggest movie stars in the world with countless box office hits, Jim Carrey is a pretty divisive actor. Some fans appreciate his knack for rubbery expressive comedy, but others criticize this performing style as overacting.

While he was once possibly the most bankable star in the world, his status has dropped in the past few years and he hasn’t really starred in a major hit since 2008’s Yes Man. Still, he’s left behind a very impressive body of work and there’s every chance his star could rise again. So, here are Jim Carrey’s 10 Best Movies, According To Rotten Tomatoes.

RELATED: Jim Carrey’s 10 Most Hilarious Characters, Ranked

10 Man on the Moon (63%)

It was a dream come true when Jim Carrey was cast to play one of his idols, comedy legend Andy Kaufman, in a biopic. Directed by the great Milos Forman, this biopic plays around with the rules a lot.

There are dramatic moments and it follows a familiar formula, but there’s also a lot of Kaufman-esque comic trickery at play. As a recent Netflix documentary can attest to, Carrey went a little cuckoo on the set as he refused to break character for the entire shoot, even when the cameras weren’t rolling. But it’s hard to deny that Kaufman himself would’ve been proud.

9 Dumb and Dumber (67%)

This road comedy by the Farrelly brothers should never have gotten a sequel. The original stands perfectly on its own as one of the funniest movies ever made and no sequel could live up to that (especially the trainwreck we were eventually served in 2014).

Few comedies have a gag rate this rapid and even fewer have such a high rate of gags actually landing. Everything in the screenplay for Dumb and Dumber is carefully considered to deliver an infinitely funny moviegoing experience: the plot as a whole is funny, the individual scenes stand alone as funny, and each of those scenes is filled with hysterical one-liners and wordplay. Frankly, in terms of laughs, Dumb and Dumber is up there with Airplane! and The Naked Gun.

8 I Love You, Phillip Morris (71%)

This real-life story of con artist Steven Jay Russell has a darker sense of humor than Jim Carrey’s fans are used to, and it’s got a lot more dramatic elements than his usual work, but it’s still a lot of fun. Russell went to prison, fell in love with a fellow inmate named Phillip Morris (who, here, is played by Ewan McGregor), and when Morris was released, he broke out of prison a whopping four times just to be with him.

It’s a delightful story with more complex acting than Carrey is usually given the chance to do. Critic Steve Persall described it perfectly: “Catch Me If You Can mashed up with Brokeback Mountain if Mel Brooks directed.”

7 Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (72%)

Jim Carrey found Count Olaf, the lead antagonist role in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, to be the perfect part for him to play. He loves character work, and Olaf isn’t just an eccentric character on his own – he’s a bad actor who disguises himself as other people.

RELATED: The 10 Best Episodes Of Netflix's A Series Of Unfortunate Events

So, Carrey got to play a bunch of different characters who were being played by another character. He was eager to do a sequel to the movie, and he never likes to do sequels, but unfortunately, due to its unusually dark tone for a kids’ movie, it didn’t perform so well at the box office.

6 The Mask (77%)

The movie that made Jim Carrey’s career was a comic book movie, but not the kind of comic book movie that now floods theaters every couple of weeks. The Mask is about an ordinary man who is granted extraordinary powers, sure, but he doesn’t use them to save the world. The Mask is more like The Nutty Professor than Spider-Man, and obviously, a slapstick-based Jerry Lewis-esque role is right in Carrey’s wheelhouse, so it’s a brilliant movie.

On a side-note, Carrey isn’t the only A-list star whose career began with The Mask. You’ll also see a young Cameron Diaz make her starring debut in the film.

5 Horton Hears a Who! (79%)

This animated adaptation of the Dr. Seuss classic (funnily enough, the first-ever fully animated feature-length adaptation of the author’s work) takes the gloss of CG animation but gives it the whimsy of the iconic illustrations from Seuss’ work. Jim Carrey voices the titular elephant, who realizes that a tiny civilization lives on a speck of dust on top of a flower and will do anything to protect them.

Steve Carell plays the mayor of this civilization, while Seth Rogen lends his voice to Horton’s mouse sidekick, the aptly named Morton. It’s a heartwarming movie that tells us that even the smallest people matter.

4 Liar Liar (81%)

Jim Carrey loves high-concept movies that he can dig his teeth into. A prime example of this is Liar Liar, in which he plays a lawyer who, thanks to his son’s birthday wish, is unable to lie for 24 hours. This led to hilarious scenes like Carrey rattling off a comprehensive list of offenses he’d just committed to a cop who pulled him over and beating himself up in a men’s room to get out of court.

But ultimately, the movie carries a strong message. You shouldn’t lie to your kids – or anyone, for that matter – and Fletcher learns that the hard way in this movie. It’s far from a flawless movie, but fans of Carrey will definitely get their fill.

3 Peggy Sue Got Married (85%)

Directed by The Godfather’s Francis Ford Coppola, Peggy Sue Got Married stars Kathleen Turner as a woman in her 40s who is ready to divorce her husband, Charlie, played by Nicolas Cage and is filled with regret about how her life has played out.

Then, she gets the opportunity to go back in time and start all over again. She can prevent herself from ever marrying Charlie in the first place. That is, until she finds herself charmed by him all over again. Jim Carrey plays a minor role as Walter Getz, and since the movie came out almost a decade before Carrey became a star, he’s virtually unrecognizable.

2 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (93%)

Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman has made a career out of taking something we can all relate to, like the feeling of despair and hopelessness after a relationship, and spin it into something cinematic, like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Jim Carrey stars as Joel, a guy who falls head over heels in love with a girl, played by Kate Winslet, who breaks his heart.

RELATED: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind: 10 Quotes That Can Never Be Erased From Our Memories

Unable to get her out of his head, he hires a company to get her out of his head using experimental new technology. Naturally, it goes wrong and he ends up trapped in his own memories. It’s very strange, but also very powerful.

1 The Truman Show (94%)

This trippy work of social science fiction could easily be an episode of Black Mirror. Jim Carrey plays Truman Burbank, a regular guy who has never left his small town and lives a quiet existence. He starts to notice unusual things about his life and soon realizes that there are cameras on him at all times, broadcasting his every move to a world filled with adoring viewers.

When he discovers the truth and tries to escape, the director of the show becomes mad with power and would rather kill him than see him leave town and experience the real world. His fans all rally behind him. It’s very satirical, yet also very moving stuff.

NEXT: Cate Blanchett's 10 Best Movies, According To Rotten Tomatoes

source https://screenrant.com/jim-carrey-best-movies-rotten-tomatoes/

#screenrant

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moviechats · 6 years ago

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The Amandas

Ah yes, the most exciting time of the year for film enthusiasts. The award season is winding to a close (we’re in the final month) and many of us are left disappointed.

I know everyone secretly hates those articles where people give their own version of the Oscars. People award films they feel were snubbed (although usually weren’t) through their own personal recognition of the film. Yes, it can be boring. But you know what? I’m doing it anyway.

You’ve seen the Oscars, get ready for the Amandas.

First up: Best Picture

Best Picture

If Beale Street Could Talk

BlacKkKlansman

Bohemia Rhapsody

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Halloween

Did I just go there with Halloween? Yeah I did.

Granted, my five nominees are quite similar to the Academy Award Best Picture race, it was more of who I left out of my own race. Roma and Black Panther never made it on my list. I debated about Vice, which would probably be my sixth pick.

I’ve heard that Beale Street was this close to making it into the Oscar Best Picture race, probably landing ninth out of the eight nominees. I rewarded it on my list, as it was truly one of the most phenomenal movies I’ve seen this year and I see no reason it shouldn’t have been on the official list. It was beautiful. It was powerful. The acting and directing worked seamlessly together. I was a huge fan of Moonlight, so I was all about this new Barry Jenkins film. I could definitely feel a little bit of Moonlight in the way Beale Street was shot. I think Jenkins has a style that will continue to stick with him, which is great news for me because I love it. I had read an article where he discussed how little dialogue there was in Moonlight and when he took on Beale Street he felt the characters would never stop talking. Despite this, he didn’t miss a beat transitioning from one kind of script to another.

I wish I had seen BlacKkKlansman multiple times in the theater to really absorb all of it. Yes, it’s obviously a narrative of our society then and today (and how little we’ve come between these two times) but it’s also a wild ride. The stakes are high for everyone involved and it’s entertaining to watch. And yes, as shallow as it is, I can’t help but love watching Adam Driver because he is so good looking in this film. Alright, besides his looks, I also enjoyed Adam’s acting. The partnership between him and John David Washington was fun to watch. Overall the way Spike told an important story, that needed to be told, was still entertaining. He had something to say and he said it. I was never bored in this film.

Ah Bohemian Rhapsody. The most conflicting film on this list. I’ll say it, I loved BoRhap (as it’s affectionately called now by fans, using a term uttered by, I believe, Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor in the film). I’ve seen it five times (a feat I was proud of until I talked with someone who had seen it 27 times...) and I’ve enjoyed it each and every time. I’ve heard the controversy and read articles about it that happen to pop up on my News Feed. These allegations are real, and I feel like you can’t discuss the film without addressing them. I, myself, am still struggling with where we separate people’s works. Obviously the director is extremely important. A film couldn’t come together without a director. But there are so many other parts of a movie. Do we punish the cast by not recognizing their talent, which they most likely had before the film? Do we throw the whole thing away? Or do we push one segment (the director) out and trudge forward? I do think we need to talk about it, but I’m not doing so here.

I will talk about the film as a whole. Listen, I love any film about music. Real, made-up, documentary, biopic. You name it, I’m there. I even loved A Star is Born, though not to the extent of awards chatter. I know a lot of events in the film didn’t happen in real life. I understand the film could have been better and, as I’ve heard multiple times, was a PG version of Freddie’s life. But I loved this film for what it was. I’m not a Queen fan in the sense that I know anything beyond their music. So I went into this with zero expectations about how things would go down and therefor, I loved the story. The acting was superb (and I fell in love like four times), Rami Malek delivers a stellar performance as well as the rest of the cast who transformed in their own way. Plus who doesn’t love a good concert without having to be in a sweaty/smelly crowd?

Wow so let’s move on to a less controversial film, shall we? I loved Can You Ever Forgive Me from the very first few minutes. Give me a film with a muted color palette set in New York in the winter and I’m already hooked. That’s my dream. Anyway, things only got better from there with the magnificent Melissa McCarthy in a serious, no-nonsense role and her companion, Richard E. Grant killing it as the BFF. The two were probably my favorite duo of any film, ever. They weren’t romantic partners, not even friends for the whole film, but they worked so well together. It is a true story, but it seems so outrageous that it works as a made-up script. It’s a slow burn and I can see how some (uncultured) people wouldn’t like it. But that’s what makes it feel the way it does. God, I love this film.

Finally, yes. The moment you have probably waited for or maybe even scrolled to the bottom for. The explanation of why Halloween is nominated in my top five. For the most part I agree with the Academy on who they choose. I’m a self-proclaimed film snob. But every once in a while I think, “what did I really like?” I don’t think it should have been nominated for an Oscar (Like Beale Street or Forgive Me) but if I’m making a list of my own, why not go for it. I absolutely L O V E the original Halloween. I’m also fond of the sequel and the totally irrelevant third movie. But if you ask me, “Amanda, what’s the best classic horror film” and I don’t answer Halloween 1978, take me to the hospital because I might be dying. I had been following this film for a while, after hearing it ignored the “fun yet totally ridiculous many sequels” that followed, I was intrigued. With John Carpenter’s approval, I felt I could see this in good faith. I went on Halloween night (the only acceptable time), 40 years to the day after my mother had seen the original Halloween in theaters. As soon as that iconic score started I got goosebumps. This was a fun film. The problem I have with so many horror movies in current times (I sound 80 years old but bear with me) is that we miss the fun element of it. Yes there’s a slasher and you have to keep people’s attention and look real. But classic horror movies are fun. You jump out of your seat and then laugh with your best friend about it. You find yourself yelling at the screen for the babysitter to not open the door. You become a character, constantly looking around for Michael Meyers because that music starts playing.

The other cool part of this movie is seeing Laurie Strode in a completely different setting than 1978. And it makes sense! She was attacked by a psychopath and now lives in a remote cabin surrounded by weapons. She’s been preparing this whole time, even teaching her daughter defense strategies knowing that he would eventually come back. It even recalls the classic haunted house setting when the characters eventually find themselves back there with him hot on their tail. It’s scary, it’s fun, and it’s a classic to me.

So who is my winner of 2019?

Obviously this is so much harder than picking my winner of the actual Academy Awards because these are all my favorites. I actually stressed about this. I’d watch every single one of these films again (and I will once they start streaming) and there’s so many aspects of each one I loved. People are going to give me so much crap for this but...I have to go with the film I’ve already seen multiple times (five...to be exact).

The winner of my favorite film of 2018 is Bohemian Rhapsody. It maybe wasn’t the “deepest” film of 2018 but it was fun and enjoyable (and gave me the love of my life, Ben Hardy). I liked it.

#Bohemian Rhapsody #Can You Ever Forgive Me #Halloween 2018 #If Beale Street Could Talk #Blackkklansman #the Amandas 2019 #Picture 2019

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realwaldojeffers · 2 years ago

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thank you! not too much work left for me i hope haha

my first language is russian and i also speak a tiny bit of german! been too long since i practiced it though

thank you for recs on bowie and VU!! i'm far from an expert on them lmao so i'll listen to these albums! i've only listened to earlier bowie albums from the man who sold the world to diamond dogs i think. life on mars must be one of my faves, i remember having it on repeat for WEEKS last year lmao. i dreamed of getting hunky dory on vinyl but couldn't find it in my local record stores :( the same with many other bowie, UV and lou albums too, no idea why they're such rare animals here. a ziggy copy i have must be one of the best sounding records in my whole collection tho! do you collect physical media?

i love velvet goldmine too!! i love todd haynes' style and it really does kinda feel like an ao3 fanfic lmao. this kind of biopics must be my favorite, when they're unauthorized or loosely based on actual stories. do you have any favorite music biopics?

my favorite artists are the beatles and john lennon! and as for the third one ehh.. even though it's not classic rock i'll say lana del rey, ever since her new single came out i've been listening to it obsessively

i see you love beatles too, so i'm just gonna say my favorite albums by them are the white album and magical mystery tour! as for john, my absolute fav of his is walls & bridges, but i guess imagine would be a good place to start as it's his dreamiest and maybe... softest? while still showing some of his edgier sides of the early 70s. plastic ono band is close to my favs after W&B but it definitely can feel too unsettling, not without lighter parts though. his part of double fantasy is full of highlights too (i like yoko's songs too though!) ugh sorry i could talk about john for hours really lmao

and as for lana- since we're into classic rock i think ultraviolence is right up that alley. it sounds so timeless it could well fit into the 70s. my other favs of hers are honeymoon and blue banisters!

i wish i watched more music documentaries and concerts but it's often too hard bc i know i'll never get to experience it live 😭 i've seen the beatles' shea concert tho and it was good! do you have favorite live shows and docs?

Once again, srry that it took me forever to reply and omg it’s almost Christmas lol But I’m excited to finally know you btw

By this time, you probably are done with your work, right? I hope that is the case so you can finally have a nice winter rest

I also try to learn German too cause like I have been obsessed with so many German artists for so long, the obvious one is Nico 😂 and also I love Kraftwerk and Rammstein, but my knowledge in German is limited to the random odd of the language

I’m also a big fan of Bowie early work too, just not so much on his folkish day lol. Still, The man who sold the world gotta be one of the my most fav albums of all time. Hunky is amazing too! Life On Mars is literally one of the song that hooked me on to David. I’m not sure if you knew this but the song Queen Bitch from this album is literally David trying to do a VU-style songwriting. So basically the narrator of that song supposed to be Lou or smth lol So yeah another weird Bowie-Lou Reed fanfic vibe 😂

About Vinyl, all of my fav artists’ records are hard to find here too, except for Bowie lol he is everywhere for some reason so prob a good thing. But no one in Thailand seems to know Velvet Underground or Lou hahaha.

I don’t own much records cause they are tbh quite expensive for me. But I have Diamond Dogs, VU’s debut album, and Lou’s Coney Island Baby on vinyl. All of them are the best things ever! But I do collect a lot of CDs

I truly not very big on biopic but Nowhere Boys is very amazing in my opinion. I love that films very much. I see that you are a big Beatles fans, what do you think about the film? I’m not sure about the accuracy but I think it’s beautiful how they depict Lennon-McCartney friendship.

Omg! I love Lana too! She is one of my all time fav artists and songwriters! Her new songs are so amazing. I’m alway intrigued by her lyrics and the way she expresses them

I haven’t listened to all of the White Albums and Magic Mysteries but so far I love George’s guitar style in the White Album so much that it’s prob gonna be my new favorite Beatles album. Personally, Let It Be is my favorite album by them but I haven’t watch the Get Back doc yet so I might need to do that!

Thank you for your recommendation on John’s music! I have been interested in John and Yoko’s works for sometime now but didn’t know where to start. They are such an iconic artistic present of the past century!

You probably have psychic ability for sure cause recently I just put Ultraviolence on repeat lol. Also it’s just delighted me how she put Lou’s name in Brooklyn Baby >< For Kana, I also love Honeymoon and Norman Fucking Rockwell

For live concert, I think I watched a bit too much Bowie’s live tbh. But I just cannot resist cause his stage crafts are just one of the best and his shows are my comfort place. I think Ziggy’s live and Diamond’s Dog’s live (you can see those in Cracked Actors’s doc) are probably his best. My fav act is the one he did Hamlet with Cracked Actors. But the one that comfort me the most is the Glass Spider tour live tbh. It’s a pretty meh album overall but the live show are so great and late 80s Bowie is like a father figure to me so I come back to that all the time

Not sure if you’ve watched Hayes’ Velvet Underground documentary yet but it’s very good! It could be focus too much on the early years of the band at time and doesn’t go beyond the post-John era so much but still there are a lot of direct history to learn from the doc as it has John and Moe, as well as, everyone who involved with the band and New York avant-garde scene of the 60s. Still, I personally think it doesn’t talk enough about Sterling Morrison and completely dismiss Doug Yule which is a bit sad. But I understand where Hayes is coming from tho, having John as the strongest present of the band as the leading narrative lol. Also the film is a bit pro-John Cale cause well… Lou is dead 😐 so that is a head-up

Anyways, I hope you have a great holiday and cannot wait to know who you are!

Tons of love,

Tawan!

#secret rocker santa 2022 #srs22

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thejoeywright-blog · 6 years ago

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YEAR IN REVIEW : Film 2018

Good evening/afternoon/morning,

A few notes on the breakdown on my year at the movies. I saw a grand total of 134 films released in 2018. A fair amount thanks in great part to MoviePass and various streaming services. If you are a fan of comic book movies, I would like to extend to you a personal thank you as you kept the movies theaters afloat this year. However, with the exception of Black Panther, I was located in the auditorium just down the hall. Full disclosure: I did actually try and see Avengers : Infinity War, but two four year-old’s were not being parented correctly and I ended up walking out. I hope they enjoyed seeing their favorite heroes turn to dust. I also most notably missed Mary Poppins Returns, Aquaman, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Spider-Man:Into the Spiderverse, Oceans 8, and Fifty Shades Freed. One film I did have the privilege of seeing and would surely be in my top ten, Under the Silverlake, is technically not scheduled for release until the Spring of 2019. So look forward to hearing about it next year. All that being said, here is how I saw the movies this year. Enjoy.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Black Panther, Bodied, Boy Erased, First Reformed, Hearts Beat Loud, Hot Summer Nights, If Beale Street Could Talk, Isle of Dogs, Minding the Gap, Mission Impossible:Fallout, A Quiet Place, The Rider, Thunder Road, Tully, Won’t You Be My Neighbor

THE TOP TEN

10. The Miseducation of Cameron Post

This is the “other gay conversion camp” movie that sadly was overlooked in place of Boy Erased. I saw both, and while the latter packs some excellent performances, judging by my exposure to Christian camps, this was the one that rang most authentic.

9. Suspiria

Coming on the heels of Luca Guadagnino’s masterpiece Call Me By Your Name, there was no other film I was looking forward to more in 2018 than Suspiria. I also wouldn’t believe they had the same director. This heavy on style remake of the 1977 horror classic of the same name is truly made in Guadagnino’s image. It was vile, erotic, funny, beautiful, and captivating often in the same breaths. The buzzed about “contortionist dance sequence” from CinemaCon lived up to its vomit inducing hype reminding me while I liked the film a great deal, it’s not for the squeamish.

8. Vice

Some are saying it lionizes former Vice President Dick Cheney. Others are saying it runs his name through the dirt.Part biopic, more parts political satire. It is definitely more Dr. Stangelove than Lincoln in terms of story and tone. In a somewhat packed theater, those looking for a straight biopic, who I imagine missed director Adam McKay’s previous works Anchorman and The Big Short were seen heading for the exits due to the amounts of silliness. Amy Adams gives a downright diabolical performance as Lynn Cheney often overshadowing that of her on screen husband.

7. Annihilation

Alex Garland’s follow-up to Ex Machina is much bigger film which in his hands is not a bad thing. Natalie Portman plays a biologist looking for answers after her presumed dead husband suddenly returns from secret military assignment.Your typical “journey into the unknown” story is enhanced with amazing visuals, intriguing scientific concept, and chilling horror. I’m still haunted by the sounds coming out of that, uhh, lets just call it a bear.

6. Burning

An American remake of Burning would clock in at 92 minutes and be forgotten immediately upon leaving the theater. This is why I’m glad this was in the hands Chang-dong Lee, a director who focuses greatly on the human condition. Large amounts of the run time of Burning is dedicated to the emotions, reactions, and exploration of our characters. The Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun gives the supporting performance of the year as the mysterious Ben. A love-triangle, a missing girl, and burning greenhouses amount to the most rewarding cinematic experience I had in 2018.

5. Roma

Roma is a film that asks of its viewer to almost meditate within it. Those familiar with director Alfonso Cuaron’s other films, Children of Men and Gravity, will find a more reserved and personal picture. The story of a maid and the middle class family she cares for in the Colonia Roma neighborhood of Mexico City is the most relatable and touching film of the year. First time actor Yalitza Aparicio gives one of the most award-worthy debut performances in recent memory as Cleo. Scenes have lingered in my mind since my viewing almost a month ago now, particularly a single-shot sequence of a family swimming into the ocean with no realization of how powerful the surf can be.

4. The Favourite

This cheeky period COMEDY, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, had me laughing harder than any other film in 2018. The story of Queen Anne’s two most trusted advisers battle for her commendation is delicious and diabolical at every turn. The film relies strongly on the equally grand performances it’s three ladies Olivia Coleman, Rachel Weisz, and Emma Stone, but DO NOT, I repeat do not sleep on the duck races.

3. A Star is Born

A Star is Born has been a social and commercial juggernaut with hefty box office sales, record sales, music award nominations, and memes beyond galore. However, it’s also an excellent example of Hollywood at its nostalgic best. There are easy avenues director, star, screenwriter, songwriter, catering manager Bradley Cooper could have taken with the thrice revamped story, but he plays it very close to the chest. It’s well known within my circle of friends and family how much I truly adored Cooper as the burning out rock star Jackson Maine.. Or Jack as you told me at the bar you wanted to be called... Every line of dialogue. Every smirk. Every caring gesture to Allie, Lady Gaga in frankly the best thing she’s ever breathed life into. Everything works here. See it the biggest and loudest way possible.

2. BlacKkKlansman

Here is my pick for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It checks all the boxes. Great performances, screenplay, and direction with a great message tied in. I used to hold issue with Spike Lee’s political and social statements book-ending his films, but here it really works. Ron Stallworth, the excellent John David Washington, is Colorado Springs first African-American police officer, who on whim manages to infiltrate the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. He works as the voice on the phone while his partner is the nice upstanding wh-ite man they are seeing. What follows is a wild, funny, thrilling, and cautionary tale that rings truer in 2018 than its setting of the 1970s.

1. Sorry To Bother You

I saw Sorry To Bother You on July 16, 2018. It has held my number one spot for almost seven full months. Leaving the theater I had a feeling I have not had in a movie since 2003, “Well I��ve never seen anything like that before!” That alone holds a lot of weight after watching 133 other films this year that I could compare to something previous. The feature film directorial debut from The Coup musician Boots Riley ten years from now, much in the same way Pulp Fiction and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are viewed, will be seen as “the norm” and a turning point in the way movies in its genre are made. I realize that is high praise, but risks are taken here where lesser films have flown off the rails. Somehow Riley takes what many would deem “absolutely insane” and makes it work. The performance of Lakeith Stanfield has been grossly unmerited all award season and is one of the best of the year. No other performance this year is asked to navigate the varying levels of despair, satire, and rage than Stanfield. Sorry To Bother You arrives without training wheels or a brake, possibly even handle bars. Enjoy the ride because you’ve never been on one like it before.

YEAR END AWARDS

BEST FILM: BlacKkKlansman

BEST DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuaron for ‘Roma’

BEST ACTRESS: Olivia Coleman for ‘The Favourite’

BEST ACTOR: Bradley Cooper for ‘A Star is Born’

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Adams for ‘Vice’

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Steven Yeun for ‘Burning’

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: ‘Burning’

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: ‘Sorry to Bother You’

CINEMATOGRAPHY: ‘Roma’

BEST SCORE : IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK’

BEST ANIMATED FILM: Isle of Dogs

BEST DOCUMENTARY: Minding the Gap

BEST FIRST FILM: Boots Riley for ‘Sorry To Bother You’

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE: Jim Cummings in ‘Thunder Road’

SCENES OF THE YEAR:

“Shallow” from ‘A Star is Born’

“Breaking the Waves” from ‘Roma’

“What’s On the Menu” from ‘Vice’

“Eulogy” from ‘Thunder Road’

Final scene from ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’

“The Contortionist” from ‘Suspiria’

#film #movies #topten #sorry to bother you

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