THE MASTER: Sails past everything this year!

Ladies and Gentleman it is my pleasure to announce that the film of the year in 2012 is without question "The Master."  The films opening over head shot of  choppy water from behind a vessel accompanied by Jonny Greenwood's music sets the tone of an amazing film.  Director Paul Thomas Anderson has not missed a beat since "There Will Be Blood."  The film is in many ways a companion piece to that film.  Oil and religion is simply repaced by sailing and the occult.  The scene where Phoenix and Hoffman first meet below deck is one of the best scenes I have seen in movies in years.  The film is so superb that it is the type of movie that makes up for all the bad movies you may have seen in the last year.  I am truly baffled at explaining at what makes the movie markedly superior.  I will try.  The main character played by Phoenix is difficult to explain.   He is tormented, shell shocked, reckless, crazy, genius, erratic, but above all sensitive.  The sensitivity is what makes Freddie Quell three dimensional.  Lancaster Dodd played by Hoffman is a man who is completely sure of himself.  The chemistry between the two is like father and son, long lost brother, veteran, mentor, and teacher.  Amy Adams is the neck that turns Dodd.  She is flawless at being a 1950's mother with unbelievable power and icy determination.  In some ways she is the leader of "The Cause."  She influences the writing of Dodd and is the backbone of the movement.  She dismisses Quell early on and is one tough character.  Phoenix, Hoffman, and Adams all are picture perfect in this cinematic gem.  The cinematography in the 70mm print is unprecedented.  The grid illustrated from all the close ups on characters faces and not focusing on the background is amazing.  Close ups of heads of lettuce and reapers in Salinas are exquisite.  Paul Thomas Anderson has raised the flagpole of cinematic greatness and achievement.  While sadly others are turning to television, recycling old ideas, or having gargangtuan problems with distribution, or simply they just sailed into the sunset.  Watch it go cinephiles!   Watch it go!

Cosmopolis: Capitalism/Gordon Gekko/ Melting Computers

The Summit Cinema Circuit has had a great moviegoing summer this 2012.  I will cover more films in the coming weeks.

Today the one and only auteur Dr. David Cronenberg pitches a major league cinematic no hitter.  I have been waiting for "Cosmopolis " to be taken under Cronenberg's microscope since I read Don Dellilo's amazing novel years ago.  First it was believed that Eric Packer would be played by Colin Farrell.  I guess "Total Recall" was too much to pass up.  Elise Shifrin was to be played by Marion Cotillard.  When the news came to me that Eric Packer would be played by Robert Pattinson.  I sunk and felt that the "Twilight" star had ruined a cinematic dream in the making.  Sarah Gadon replacing Cotillard stung as well.  I thought the film would in all likelihood end up like a smoked ham.  It had all the ingredients of Shia LaBeouf ruining the Wall Street Sequel. 

Well Ladies and Gentleman I shall have to eat a great deal of humble pie.  Cronenberg broke the yolk wide open and Pattinson delved into the role of Eric Packer.  A literary favorite character. Packer is a billionaire who operates his office out of a white long stretch limousine.  Packer's limousine is not a typical vehicle.  The limousine is corked from sound from the constant noise of New York City. Sound in the feature is noticeable when Packer is talking to his financial analyst at the outset of the film.  I cannot think of another film that has made the interior perspective of a vehicle passing through lower Manhattan look like a spaceship odyssey.  A viewer should not forget that Cronenberg helmed "Crash".  The man knows automobiles and the limousine is no exception.  The car operates as an office, bedroom, bar, theory lecture hall, doctor's office, all rolled into one.  The security Packer possesses is presidential. Packer has so much wealth at his fingertips it is insane.  He is throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at a country whose market is a financial pit.  What is the motivation for the car ride?  The man simply wants a haircut.  Eric Packer is a  Gordon Gekko cyborg with a melting computer on his face.

On to the acting Pattinson digs deep into the role.  The man who is a tabloid sensation.  Honestly I don't care about his romantic life.  Ironically because he is on the same level of fame as Brad Pitt he breathes into the exclusive oxygen of Packer so well.  When Pattison clears the restaurant for he and his wife you know the guy has had to do this in reality in order to feel at all relaxed.  A celebrity of his stature is used to Packer in a limousine similar to a billionaire.  An individual who is so used to having so many people come to him.  A human who is cut off from reality and loses sense of how to converse with everyday people.  When Pattinson gets  a pie in the face the thrower states it all "I could have done the President, but I chose you."

Everyone perfoms excellent in the film around Packer.  Especially Samatha Morton as his economic theorist,
and Julliette Binoche as Didi Fancher the art collector.  Binoche seems to be one of the few characters who can truly joust with Packer. Torval the bodyguard is flawless portrayed by Kevin Durand.  Paul Giamatti plays Benno Levin.

Benno Levin's apartment resembles the architecture of true Cronenberg atmosphere.  "Existenz"  "The Naked Lunch" and cars from "Crash" are all at home in it.  The Art direction is truly amazing.  Computers, wires, metal filing cabinets, desk lamps, set the tone of a fascinating world.

Congratulations Dr. Cronenberg for breaking Pattinson in two and doing for him what David Lynch did for Naomi Watts in "Mullhollland Drive".  You made a defining talent driven performance that will alter Pattinson's professional carreer.

The Summit Cinema Film Festival screens Melancholia

In the opening sequence of Lars Von Trier's Melancholia, Kirsten Dunst is seen in a variety of images. The first 5 minutes of the film is one of the most exsquisitely shot beginnings I have ever seen as a cinephile. Everything is in stop motion. A horse is falling backwards into the ground. Gaingsbourg clutches her son and steps through the golf course. Dunst flails in her wedding dress in a river amongst lily pads. Dunst has lightning bolts streaming from her finger tips. My personal favorite is the image of Dunst in her wedding dress with all of these vines holding her back as she tries to run forward. The entire time these images are being revealed Wagner's Tristan and Isolde sets the musical tone of decadence and depression. These shots are very much like cinematic paintings.





Mr. Lars Von Trier has made a companion piece to Antichrist. In Antichrist he revealed the rage of depression as an outward beast. Gainsbourg yelled, fought, screwed, and inflicted all in an effort to vanquish her depression. The forest in Antichrist was seen as a place of danger where a fox spoke and shouted the words "Chaos Reigns". When the Summit Cinema Film Festival screened Antichrist half the audience walked out midway. Gainbourg's husband played by Defoe was a physiciatrist and extremely scientific, but insensitive and naive.





Von Trier's Melancholia is the sister of this film. Depression is on the menu again, but this time it is all internal. Dunst in contrast to Gainsbourg in Antichrist is extremely subdued. She begins the film ecstacically then slowly sinks into the depths of discontent. Dunst doesn't yell through out the entire film. In describing Dunst's acting she hits all the notes on the piano. She is flawless at depicting someone whom is stuck in depression yet whose eyes and face say it all.





The web created by Von Trier is quite intricate. The first five minutes outline everything to come in the film. The film is broken into two parts the first entitled Justine for Dunst and the second Claire for Gainsbourg. The two are sisters. The location of the film is never revealed. I choose to not give two much away about Melancholia. The film deals with Dunst's wedding and the end of the world simultaneously. Apocalypse and marriage.

The Tree of Life: astonishes and amazes!

In the summer of 2011 the one film that will stand the test of time in the archive of film greats is Terrence Mallick's The Tree of Life. At the Cannes Film Festival it won the Palme D' OR. Mallick's latest opus takes the viewer on a wild ride through the creation of the Earth. Many critics have compared the creation sequence in The Tree of Life to Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey wormhole sequence. I agree with these critics. Some other critics argued the 20 minute creation sequence was dull, over the top, and served no purpose. Well in Mallick's defense when so many people keep comparing him to Kubrick he must be doing something right.


From 1973 when he shot Badlands Mallick has demonstrated to the film community that he was a force to be reckoned with. In 2011 he is still going strong. Elements of The Tree of Life and Badlands overlap. The films both take place during the 1950s in America. The architecture of the homes is similar in these films. Badlands tells the story of Kit and Holly and is a road movie. Along the road teenage sex, violence, and beauty are displayed against stark landsapes.





The Tree of Life takes the viewer into the eye of a young Texas boy. The way the camera is positioned makes the viewer feel the depth perception of a child. The creation sequence foreshadows events that occur later in the film. The meteor hitting the ocean is similar to when Jack shoots his bb gun into the river. The coil shaped organisms in the ocean mimic the coil shaped failed patents Mr. Obrien tries to create. The light on the children's wall is the same as light at the beginning of the film. The river in which the dinosaurs inhabit is framed and shot the same way as the river the brothers swim in.





Another aspect of the film worth looking at is architecture. Adult Jack portrayed brilliantly by Sean Penn is an architect. One of the few lines that is discernable in his brief screen time at the beginning of the film is he say's in a whisper "I feel like I keep walking into walls" this is a metaphor for the future. In which he lives in an enviornment that is sealed by high office buildings, elevators, and tunnels. Hunter McCracken plays young Jack and gives a tour de force performance. His enviornment is largely free of walls. He is constantly running around the neighborhood, swimming, busting windows, and getting dirty.





The performances by all of the actors in the film is amazing. Brad Pitt plays a hardlined father named Mr. Obrien. Jessica Chastain plays a nurturing mother. For me she is the most astonishing aspect of the film. She is a mother who is such a nurturing and magical woman. Chastain wants her boys to be filled with love in their hearts. Pitt wants them to be physically tough and ready for a cold harsh world. Pitt's character isn't a bad person he simply wants different elements from his boys. Chastain wants her boys to be filled with love and compassion in their hearts. She hardly has any lines of dialogue in the entire film. However every thought is conveyed from her in a way by dancing. The film for me was really about masculine and feminine energy. The struggle is played out by the way in which three brothers try to tap into either energy.





The visuals of The Tree of Life are some of the best in 10 years. The acting is amazing. During the summer of 2011 I saw the film four times in the theater because on video it will never be the same. I have never seen any movie in the theater that many times. Usually two is more than enough. I urge cinephiles to see this movie on the big screen. So far hardly anyone has, but I thank Mallick for having the courage to roll the artistic dice!

Woody Allen throws it down at Midnight!

Greetings fellow cinefiles,

Locating good films after the oscars is as usual extremely difficult. Since February at the Multiplex and independent theatres combined there has been a Mojave desert. Meek's Cutoff was an exception, but nothing like Woody Allen's latest. I have always considered myself a Woody Allen fan. Films like Annie Hall, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Broadway Danny Rose, are classics. The list could go on and all of these films take place in New York. With the exception of Whatever Works in the last decade Allen has chosen Europe as his new arena. London was utilized for Scoop, Cassandra's Dream, Match Point, and You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger. Barcelona was of course used for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I enjoyed these films, but none of them struck me quite like his latest.{spoiler alert}

Midnight in Paris is the kind of movie that leaves me thinking about it days later and makes it okay if Allen dies tomorrow because the film in one word is "magic". The opening montage of Paris is beautiful and is like a short film in it of itself. Owen Wilson walks Paris at night where at the stroke of midnight he gets to jump into a car packed with friends from another era. The era is the 1920's and Wilson gets to rub shoulders with icons Hemingway, Dali, Stein, Fitzgerald, Man Ray, Bunuel, Dali and the beautiful flapper Cotillard. These characters and exchanges are fantastic. When Wilson drops back to reality he stays in Paris and walks in rain with a woman who shares his love of Cole Porter. A person's love of the past and reality come together.

Winter's Bone: A Dangerous Ozark World Revealed

Dear Cinephiles, I am late on reviewing the following film. Winter's Bone is a fascinating watch. I viewed it at the Westside Pavillion on a oscar clad return. Lucky to catch such a hidden gem at the cinema. Director Debra Granik digs deep into the Ozarks of Missouri to reveal a portrait of country folks that have never been truly tackled. The setting is cold, isolated, and visceral. The buildings are wooden structures, shacks, burned out buildings, and thick mountain pines. A trampoline becomes a primary image of Jennifer Lawrence's household. 20 year old Lawrence throws herself fearlessly into a truly difficult role.

She at 17 has to hunt down her meth addicted father, whom is avoiding the authorities. When I first heard the plotline it sounded predictable and a total downer. However in caring for her two younger sibling's and mute mother I saw something amazing. A girl who gets into many dangerous situations to uncover the truth of her father's whereabouts.

The scenes that stick with me the most are the characters she has to deal with on this search. Granik brings completely fresh country faces and manages to scare the living hell out of the viewer! The movie for me was mainly intriguing because it shows a young girl going into arenas that are highly intense. Like a Grimm Fairy Tale the tension keeps building the further Lawrence searches. The movie is not an easy film to digest and has shocking images, but if you are up for it the film takes you into a country world I have never seen cinematically before.

The Year of the Rabbit!

Dearest Cinefiles, Punk rockers, soul surfers, downtown artists, the Italian Consulate, Oliver Stone, Aero Theater, and my parents.

Ushering in 2011. A warm spring in the middle of winter has arrived for moviegoers. Joel and Ethan Cohen hit a grand slam again with True Grit. The Southern drawl of Jeff Bridges made many teenagers leave the theater instantly. The prize of the holidays however goes to Mr. Darren Aronofsky. Black Swan has been viewed by Summit Cinema three times and each time a piece of Portman and Kunis are revealed. By far the one of the best lead actress roles of the year. However Tilda Swinton is still superior in I am Love by Luca Guadagnino.

This is a time capsule of Winter Films.

The King's Speech bored me through three fourths of the film. However the last fourth was one of the best endings of all year. And last Oliver Stone screened South of the Border at the Aero Theatre where the film had a slightly different print than the one I saw in Santa Monica during the summer. It started with how cocaine is processed in South America. The film has been so controversial it has been banned in multiple states. I don't side with Chavez, but as a historian you always need to hear both sides. I loved hearing politicians from different countries speak. The misinformation is a true problem for art in many countries. Film, poetry, photography, ballet, opera, books of foreign authors need to be translated and printed in the United States!

I almost forgot Mr. Danny Boyle shoots Utah with precision in 127 hours. A powerful film about a person that is in perpetual motion and is forced to remain still.
I will dig deeper into these films in the coming week.

So cinefiles this a taster stay tuned hip hoppers stay tuned. With your ear to the ground on the Venice Boardwalk and your hands against the steel of a newstand on Sunset!